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FINAL APPLICATION TO THE

UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY –

INSTITUTE FOR THE ADVANCED STUDY OF SUSTAINABILITY

FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF

RCE Puerto Rico

AS A REGIONAL CENTER OF EXPERTISE

ON

EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

September 2019

CONTACT INFORMATION

Primary Contact: Christopher Nytch, PhD

Project Leader, Fundación Amigos de El Yunque (Friends of El Yunque Foundation)

Affiliate Researcher, Univ. of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, Dept. of Environmental Sciences

Vistas de Luquillo, D65 Calle V2, Luquillo, Puerto Rico, 00773 USA

[email protected]

Tel: +1 202-365-3395

Alternate Contact:

Edgardo González Executive Director Centro para la Conservación del Paisaje (Center for Landscape Conservation) PO Box 23186, San Juan Puerto Rico, 00931-3186 USA [email protected] Celular: +1 787-212-3213 Office: +1 787-985-0038

mailto:[email protected]


Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 3

Evidence of Mobilization Process to Develop the RCE ............................................................... 3

Geographical Scope and Major Characteristics of the Region ....................................................... 4

Reasons for Geographical Scope ................................................................................................ 7

Major Sustainability Challenges of the Region ........................................................................... 8

RCE Vision & Mission .................................................................................................................... 11

Goals, Short-Term & Long-Term Objectives, and Strategies .................................................... 11

Governance and Management ..................................................................................................... 17

Identification of Key Institutions/Organizations ....................................................................... 18

Governance/Management Structure of the RCE ...................................................................... 24

Short-Term and Long-Term Resource Arrangements .............................................................. 26

Criteria and Milestones for Monitoring and Evaluation ........................................................... 28

Documents Proving Commitment from Key Institutions ......................................................... 31

Collaboration................................................................................................................................. 32

Collaboration Among Regional/Local Stakeholders ................................................................. 32

Involvement of Higher Education Institution and Local Schools .............................................. 37

Partnerships with the University of Vermont, Shelburne Farms, and other RCE Greater

Burlington Members ................................................................................................................. 40

Synergistic Opportunities.......................................................................................................... 41

On-going and Planned Activities ................................................................................................... 42

References .................................................................................................................................... 49

Appendix A: Letters of Support ..................................................................................................... 51

3

INTRODUCTION

Puerto Rico is often referred to as La Isla del Encanto – The Enchanted Island – and indeed it is,

with its incredible wealth and diversity of cultural and natural resources woven together in a

rich tapestry of people and place. Yet it is also an archipelago in jeopardy, facing immense

economic, socio-political, ecological, technological, and climatic challenges, many of them

revealed and amplified by the devastating impacts of Hurricane María in 2017. As the writer

Naomi Klein astutely observed in her illuminating 2018 book, The Battle for Paradise, Puerto

Rico is at a historical turning point in which there are competing visions about what the future

should be, and who it is for. These include both powerful, external interests that would seek to

exploit the island’s people and resources for personal aggrandizement, as well as formidable

local allies who champion a Puerto Rico that is equitable, democratic, and sustainable. Although

the future is anything but certain, it is clear there is a profound need for improved

understanding, and collective and respectful dialogue about what is at stake. This is where

sustainability education comes in, with its tripartite mission of promoting environmental, socio-

cultural and economic well-being. It is our great hope to be at the discussion table and help

guide the conversation toward a desirable future for all members of the Earth community. To

that end, we submit this application for establishing Puerto Rico as a Regional Center of

Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development.

Evidence of Mobilization Process to Develop the RCE

Representatives of RCE Puerto Rico have been actively engaged in developing a sustainability

education network since the fall of 2017. For many years there has been a strong presence of

diverse collaborating partners focused on sustainability education operating in Puerto Rico. Yet

in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and María there were widespread and prolonged power and

water outages, along with food and medical shortages; it became clear that improved

coordination among partners was necessary to advance sustainability principles and community

resiliency at local and regional levels.

Initial interest in establishing an RCE in Puerto Rico was sparked by a colleague and friend from

the RCE Greater Burlington in Vermont who observed potential for collaborative synergies

among numerous Puerto Rico partners engaged in formal and informal educational initiatives.

This led to conversation with Dr. Philip Vaughter of the UNU Institute for the Advanced Study of

Sustainability, to learn more about the RCE concept and application process.

By March 2018, an initial meeting of potential Puerto Rico partners was held, during which the

core thematic areas were discussed, and partner interest and commitment to the RCE was

assessed. This meeting was also attended by a team of visiting representatives from RCE

Greater Burlington who listened and provided insightful input regarding the geographic scope

Application – Puerto Rico RCE 4

and potential focal themes. In the past year, the Puerto Rico partners have continued to

communicate and refine RCE Puerto Rico’s scope and purpose via an application committee,

while simultaneously engaging new organizations and participating in cooperative activities

representative of the spirit of the proposed RCE. Throughout this process RCE Greater

Burlington has played a mentorship role and has also highlighted/supported novel

opportunities for interchange of material and personnel resources.

In May 2019 we submitted a draft application to the UNU-IAS and received supportive

comments from the external reviewers representing other RCEs. We incorporated several of

the suggested changes into our revised application, with emphasis on efforts to develop new

relationships with education-oriented agencies and institutions in Puerto Rico. At our most

recent meeting of RCE Puerto Rico partners this past August, we solidified commitments from

additional organizations, and continued our discussion of the joint vision and roadmap for

achieving common goals. This document is the fruitful product of those conversations and

interactions – and a blueprint for many more. We look forward to joining the RCE network and

working together with global partners toward the advancement of education for sustainable

development in Puerto Rico and around the world.

GEOGRAPHICAL SCOPE AND MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS OF THE

REGION

The geographical scope for the proposed RCE is Puerto Rico, the smallest of the Greater Antilles

located in the Eastern Caribbean (Figure 1). Puerto Rico is an archipelago centered on the

geographic coordinates 18°15’ N by 66°30’ W that includes the main island and several smaller

islands to the east and west. Total land area of all islands is approximately 9,000 km2 (Gould et

al. 2008).

The initial emphasis of RCE Puerto Rico is the eastern region of the island, and the nine

municipalities that are considered part of the management region of El Yunque National Forest

(EYNF): Río Grande, Luquillo, Fajardo, Ceiba, Naguabo, Humacao, Las Piedras, Juncos, and

Canóvanas (Figure 2). According to 2018 population estimates from the US Census Bureau, the

population of the nine municipalities totaled 300,585 persons. Despite this regional focus,

several partners are currently engaged in sustainability education activities with organizations

outside of the region, and we anticipate and welcome future collaboration with communities

and partners throughout the country. The island-wide perspective will also facilitate the

incorporation of governmental partners and agencies. For that reason, we have embraced a

name that encompasses the whole island. (Please see the Governance and Management

section for additional justification regarding an island-wide name).


The geographic area of the eastern region is 86.9 km2, with a stunning diversity of land covers

and habitats ranging from coastal wetlands and sandy beaches, to agricultural pastures and

shrublands, to secondary and primary montane forests that rise to 1000 m above sea level.

Climatic conditions for the region range from subtropical dry forest in coastal areas to

subtropical rain forest at the highest mountain peaks (Holdridge 1967).

Figure 1. Location map of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, showing the eastern region (in yellow) and El Yunque

National Forest. Map from El Yunque National Forest 2018 Revised Management Plan.

At the core of the region lies EYNF; representing 13.3% of the regional land area, it is the only

tropical and most biologically diverse forest in the United States National Forest System. The

foothills and low-lying plains surrounding the forest are heavily developed with urban,

suburban, and peri-urban land uses. Small-scale farming and cattle ranching are present as well

in valley and coastal areas. The region also boasts numerous beaches and other coastal

resources, supporting restaurants, hotels, marinas, and adventure sports activities (e.g.,

snorkeling, fishing, ziplining, all-terrain vehicles). Infrastructure features include a regional

airport and industrial and port zones associated with a former US military base. Three university

and college campuses are in the region, along with two experimental field stations that sponsor

several long-term ecological conservation, research and environmental education programs

and projects.

The racial and ethnic composition of the region represents a complex and intertwined cultural

heritage that includes descendants of the Taíno Indians, Spanish and American colonists, and

African slaves. All the municipalities but Naguabo exhibited a loss of residents over the past


decade. To some extent this population decline has resulted from the closing of the Roosevelt

Roads naval base in Ceiba, but it also reflects broader trends throughout Puerto Rico that began

in the late 2000s as productive workers emigrated off island due to a persistent economic

stagnation that persists today. At present, the island government is in a state of bankruptcy,

owing US $74 billion in public debt to federal and international creditors (Puerto Rico

Department of Housing 2018).

Figure 2. Map of the nine municipalities of the eastern region in Puerto Rico, showing the location of El Yunque

National Forest and other protected areas, including the Northeast Ecological Corridor. Map modified from El

Yunque National Forest 2018 Revised Management Plan.

Declining economic conditions in Puerto Rico were exacerbated by hurricanes Irma and Maria,

which both severely affected the region in 2017, resulting in estimated damages to Puerto Rico

in excess of US $40 billion (Estudios Técnicos 2018). The hurricanes further contributed to rapid

population decline across the entire island, with hundreds of thousands of people moving to

the US mainland in the aftermath of the storms (Meléndez and Hinojosa 2017). Population loss

has also resulted in shifts in age structure: since the late 20th century the proportion of people

from younger age groups has contracted and older age groups have increased in abundance in


the region. The number of residents age 40 and above is expected to further increase due to

post-hurricane out-migration (Puerto Rico Disaster Recovery Action Plan 2018). Despite

decreases in the total population around El Yunque, population densities remain high, with

greater than 1000 persons per square mile in five of the nine municipalities, and over 95% of

the people in the region living in built-up areas classified as “urban” by the US Census Bureau in

2010.

Roughly 44% of the regional population lives below the federal poverty level (American

Community Survey, 2017), with greater than 50% of children younger than age 18 living in

poverty. Median household income ranged from $15,250 in Naguabo to $21,934 in Canóvanas,

and average unemployment in the civilian labor force was 9% for the region (US Dept. of Labor).

Historically, much of the economy of the region was dedicated to agriculture, including the

cultivation of sugar cane, tobacco, coconut palms, bananas, and coffee. Today, education,

health, and social service jobs comprise 21% of the jobs in the region, followed by retail trade

(13%), manufacturing (12%), and arts, entertainment, and accommodations (10%) (Quiñones et

al. 2018). Almost 75% of adults in the region have attained a high school degree or equivalent

and 20% have some college or an Associate’s degree (American Community Survey, 2017).

Reasons for Geographical Scope

The eastern region is an ideal location for the initial development of RCE Puerto Rico focused on

education for sustainability because of the critical importance of this landscape and its

resources for ensuring ecological, economic, and socio-cultural well-being for the surrounding

communities as well as its role as a prominent international symbol. EYNF was revered as a holy

place for the prehistoric Taino inhabitants of Puerto Rico, and today it is esteemed as a wonder

of the natural world, having been proclaimed a Biosphere Reserve under the UNESCO Man and

Biosphere program in 1976. A few miles to the north of El Yunque lies the Northeast Ecological

Corridor (NEC), a coastal natural reserve spanning the municipalities of Luquillo and Fajardo. It

is one of the last untouched stretches of littoral and marine habitat in the northern part of the

island. The NEC is also emblematic of the contemporary environmental movement in Puerto

Rico, having received protective status from the government in 2013 following massive

grassroots mobilization that attracted international attention. Together with numerous, smaller

protected areas distributed throughout the nine municipalities (Figure 2), the region’s green

infrastructure provides landscape-scale habitat for dozens of rare terrestrial and aquatic plants

and animals of conservation concern, including the critically endangered Puerto Rican Parrot,

leatherback turtle, Coqui tree frogs, and wild orchids.

These conserved lands also provide a variety of invaluable ecosystem services to nearby human

communities, such as clean air and water. Ten rivers originate within EYNF, supplying drinking

water for about 20% of Puerto Rico’s population (Quiñones et al. 2018). The sequestration and

storage of carbon by primary and secondary vegetation and soil resources in EYNF has benefits


that extend regionally and even globally (Jennings 2014). Cultural services throughout the

region include recreation opportunities (e.g., hiking, swimming, horseback riding) that support

extensive local and international tourism, and opportunities for solitude in natural wilderness

areas. EYNF as a nature attraction is a key economic engine for the tourism economy in the

region, attracting more than one million visitors annually (Quiñones et al. 2018). Formal and

informal educational opportunities abound as well, with hundreds of students ranging from

elementary school to graduate studies visiting the forest for experiential learning encounters

each year.

The eastern region is also an important gateway to Puerto Rico’s offshore island municipalities

of Culebra and Vieques, as well as international points of cultural, ecological, and economic

significance farther east and south among the island states of the Lesser Antilles. RCE Puerto

Rico would be the first RCE in the insular Caribbean and will serve as a guide for future centers

to become established in other islands.

Importantly, numerous educational and environmental partnerships already exist in the region,

across multiple scales and sectors (described in “Collaborations”), providing a solid foundation

for future sustainability work.

Major Sustainability Challenges of the Region

Puerto Rico’s eastern region struggles with numerous challenges related to environmental,

social, and economic health and long-term sustainability, many of which are reflective of

broader systemic problems that affect Puerto Rico as a whole. Among the most prominent

challenges are those concerning land use planning and transportation. Following World War II,

Puerto Rico underwent a rapid transition toward industrialization, accompanied by agricultural

abandonment, urban expansion, and development of a service-based economy (Lopez et al.

2001, Grau et al. 2003). Although industrialization sparked a rapid forest recovery across the

island (Rudel et al. 2000, Brandeis et al. 2007), the ensuing development mimicked that of the

continental United States, with its sprawling system of residential housing developments and

commercial centers connected by an extensive network of roads. In the eastern part of the

island, the national forest and the natural protected areas sit as islands of conserved land

within a surrounding mosaic of urbanization, secondary forest lands, pasture, shrublands and

wetlands. Development has not followed an organized plan but rather been the result of

inefficient building practices opportunistically pursued by individual municipal governments.

This has led to the lack of a comprehensive framework to guide regional land-use planning, the

expansion of urban and suburban sprawl (e.g., strip malls and low-density, single-family

housing), and a reduction of green space in built-up areas. Even though development is

concentrated in the relatively narrow coastal plain and valley areas along three major

transportation corridors that surround EYNF, there is very limited public transportation


available in the region, and most people commute by driving alone in privately-owned

automobiles on heavily congested roadways that are poorly maintained.

Other major issues include food and fuel security. The industrial boom in the second half of the

20th century led to a decrease in the relative economic importance of agriculture and an

increase in food imports. Puerto Rico currently imports over 80 percent of its food supply

(Gould et al. 2015, 2017), despite the abundance of arable land and a sub-tropical climate.

Most of the agriculture that persists is dedicated to industrial-scale monocrops grown for

export or testing purposes. Regarding fuel resources, Puerto Rico and the eastern region rely

primarily on imported fossil fuels to meet energy needs for electric power and transportation.

The electric grid is old, lacks maintenance, and due to its centralized nature is vulnerable to

widespread power outages. There are some renewable solar, wind, hydropower, and biomass

resources on the island, including wind and solar farms in the east. The development of

renewable energy resources has received additional state and federal support following

Hurricanes Irma and María, and Puerto Rico has passed into law clean energy targets to move

the island toward 100% renewable sources by 2050 (Senate Bill 1121). However, there is no

clear strategy for systemic change (Puerto Rico Department of Housing 2018). Food and fuel

security in the eastern region and throughout the island are further complicated by the fact

that most imports pass through the Port of San Juan, which creates a distribution bottleneck

during times of crisis that directly imperils human lives.

Climate change presents another sustainability challenge, with harsh consequences for human

and non-human communities alike. Research suggests that the major impacts of climate change

in Puerto Rico over the course of the 21st century will result from four major stressors: sea level

rise, increased severity of tropical storms, increased drought, and increased heat extremes

(USGCRP 2018). The first stressor is likely to have a direct impact on low-lying coastal

communities, leading to inundation and displacement and a movement inland. This may

increase competition for resources on mid-upper elevation lands, further fragmenting forested

landscapes with human infrastructure (Helmer 2004). The whole island of Puerto Rico

witnessed the destructive power of high intensity tropical storms with Hurricanes Irma and

María in 2017. Both hurricanes severely impacted eastern Puerto Rico, leaving communities in

the eastern region without food for several weeks and without water and power for several

months. An increase in super storms of great intensity will further stress the already fragile

food and energy systems, augmenting the health and economic risks faced by vulnerable

communities.

Climate change is projected to result in water shortages throughout the Caribbean within the

next 5-10 years due to an overall decrease in annual rainfall (USGCRP 2018). Increased drought

will stress natural communities, potentially limiting key ecosystem services such as the

provision of food and water resources. In Puerto Rico, including the eastern region, water


availability and the potential for drought is exacerbated by reduced storage capacity in the

island’s reservoirs due to sedimentation and the lack of maintenance in recent decades,

excessive loss of potable water from broken and obsolete distribution infrastructure, and a lack

of political will and financial resources to remedy these problems (Sosa Pascual 2019).

Furthermore, an increase in extreme heat events has been linked with public health issues such

as heat-related mortality among urban populations (Méndez-Lazaro et al. 2015, 2016).

Together, the impending challenges of climate change signal the urgent need for sustainability

and resiliency initiatives to both mitigate and adapt to extreme events of all kinds. The effects

of climate disturbances require a continuous discussion forum to promote sustainable

development initiatives under the potential vulnerability of island states.

Finally, the challenges discussed thus far are further exacerbated by larger contextual issues

related to Puerto Rico’s economic insolvency and political status as a territory of the United

States. As noted previously, the country has been in an economic crisis for over a decade, and

currently owes tens of billions of dollars in borrowed debt to international investors. This has

led to the flight of major employers and skilled labor, as reflected in the overall population

decline. The financial crisis has also resulted in extreme austerity measures implanted by an

extra-governmental financial oversight and management board that exerts ultimate control

over Puerto Rico’s economy. The impacts have disproportionately affected lower income

people residing in more rural areas such as those around EYNF, highlighting outstanding

issues of equity regarding social vulnerability in the region. For example, deep cuts have been

enacted on pensions and public services, including health care, security, and education, with

more than a dozen schools closed in the eastern region since 2010. In response to these

conditions, community groups around EYNF and throughout the island have organized in acts

of self-determination to establish projects focused on food, energy, water, and education

sovereignty, through the support of agro-ecological farms, micro-grids, and local water

treatment systems. Simultaneously, the Puerto Rican government has pursued a different

vision, seeking to foment large-scale private investment in Puerto Rican reconstruction,

including in mega-development and energy projects, by offering a tax-haven to high net-

worth individuals and selling off public lands and utilities. Thus, at the heart of the region’s

challenges reside important questions about the future of Puerto Rico, and to whom it

belongs. These questions also at the core of the sustainability education work we aim to

address through the establishment of the RCE.


RCE VISION & MISSION

The vision of RCE Puerto Rico is to develop and implement holistic solutions to environmental

and socio-economic challenges that lead to healthier, more equitable, and resilient

communities.

Our mission is to build a participatory platform for sustainability education that fosters

ecoliteracy and whole systems thinking, promotes local economic development and self-

management of natural and cultural resources, and augments resiliency to socioeconomic and

environmental change.

Goals, Short-Term & Long-Term Objectives, and Strategies

RCE Puerto Rico will be framed around three thematic areas pertinent to Puerto Rico and other

small island states:

(1) Natural resource management, conservation, and ecosystem services within social-

ecological systems;

(2) Food, water, and energy security and sustainable economic development;

(3) Resiliency to climate change.

With respect to the thematic areas, we have identified several goals and objectives to focus our

efforts. These include short-term (within the first year of RCE designation) and long-term

(within two to five years of RCE designation) goals. The goals were identified based on

collaborative areas in which Core Partner members (described below in “Identification of Key

Institutions/Organizations”) are presently working, and analysis of needs at the regional level.

We consider these to be foundational starting points upon which to have future conversations

and identify additional priorities. We have also outlined key strategies specific to the objectives.

The overarching strategies of collaborative dialogue and interdisciplinary cross-sector

integration are applicable to all of them. Goals, objectives, and strategies will be revisited by

the Steering Committee (see “Governance and Management”) following official designation as

an RCE, and responsibilities assigned to specific partners. In the “Ongoing and Planned

Activities” section of this application we identify potential groups that could lead the initiatives.


Goal 1. Establish an RCE to advance sustainability education throughout Puerto Rico and

neighboring localities.

Short-Term OBJECTIVES STRATEGIES

Establish Puerto Rico as an RCE comprised of a coalition of Core Partner stakeholders

Apply for and earn official RCE designation from the UNU-IAS

Develop regular communication among Core Partners

Create shared social media accounts for communicating such as email listserv, Facebook, Whatsapp, and Google Calendar; Plan and hold bi-monthly Core Partner meetings

Establish formal governance structures Follow guidelines as outlined in the United Nation’s Integrated Framework to support local governance and local development

Delegate responsibilities for RCE functioning (administration, programming, outreach, etc.)

Establish sub-committees and roles among Core Partners

Revisit goals, and develop more detailed strategies and timelines for achieving specific objectives, and indicators for evaluating success

Link goals and objectives to outcomes using the Global Indicator Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Secure financial support for administrative functioning of the RCE Puerto Rico Steering Committee and RCE Coordinator

Develop a business plan, identify and apply for funding from national and local foundations and government agencies (e.g., Fondo Adelante, PR Community Foundation, Fundación Flamboyán, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundation)

Share information, experiences, resources, events relevant to education for sustainable development among Core Partners

Develop a web-based, interactive platform for internal collaboration

Long-Term OBJECTIVES STRATEGIES

Showcase information about RCE Puerto Rico and its

partners, activities, and events

Develop a web-based, interactive platform for communicating about RCE activities with the public

Extend collaboration to include potential educational partners from the region and island

Conduct RCE outreach and promotion

Facilitate communication and sharing of RCE ideas and activities throughout Puerto Rico

Conduct RCE outreach and promotion; support development of new RCEs, potentially with an over-arching governing body

Develop relationships with sustainability education partners in the Caribbean and other international locations

Conduct RCE outreach and promotion; engage in exchange of knowledge, resources, and personnel; support development of new RCEs

Secure financial support for RCE Puerto Rico programmatic activities and RCE development/expansion

Identify and apply for funding from foundations and government agencies (e.g., Center for a New Economy, Puerto Rico Education Foundation, Banco Popular Foundation, State and Private Forestry)

Report to the RCE network, Core Partners, and

funding agencies, and share best practices

Follow official reporting procedures and communicate findings on an annual basis


Goal 2. Augment public awareness about sustainability concepts as related to social,

economic and environmental well-being and ecosystem services.


Develop a summary of existing sustainability education programs and initiatives in the region

Review existing education programs and initiatives via a literature review and survey of collaborating partners; identify sustainability education applications, potential adaptations of materials, and opportunities for the RCE to scale-up sustainable development strategies and themes

Develop a summary of sustainable development initiatives in the region

Review strategic plans of communities, institutions, agencies and private business to identify sustainable development initiatives and organize them by sector

Establish a baseline of knowledge status of sustainability principles among the public

Review available literature including academic papers and professional and government reports


Support existing sustainability education initiatives

and the development of new ones

Leverage partner resources to attain goals; advocate for pro-sustainability policies; identify and apply for novel funding opportunities

Promote knowledge and provide tools and resources about sustainable development concepts and ecosystem services in formal and informal learning settings

Promote/support talks and workshops at schools and universities; organize informational tables at cultural events; hold community sessions and workshops; provide hands-on training using ecosystem service evaluation tools (e.g., i-Tree); utilize creative media channels; collaborate with the UNA-UAS PR chapter

Improve communication in the region about on-going and potential sustainability-related activities

Develop a digital platform for sharing sustainability education ideas, resources, experiences, and announcements among schools, universities, communities, faith groups, etc.; utilize social media; identify opportunities for diverse knowledge disseminators to play a central role as part of the RCE in generating public awareness

Reduce inequality regarding access to sustainability information and resources

Create an enabling environment which pro-actively seeks out and includes people who are normally bypassed due to age, race, socio-economic status, etc.

Showcase and celebrate regional ESD work and the efforts of RCE partners

Host an annual recognition event that rotates among community and RCE partners and highlights ongoing ESD work in the region

Contribute to development of official statistics about SDGs for PR

Collaborate with the UNA-UAS PR chapter and the PR Statistics Institute


Goal 3. Promote biodiversity, conservation education, and sustainable use/management of

natural and cultural resources.


Enhance ecoliteracy within the region Promote/support passive nature-focused educational activities such as educational talks, books and videos, art displays, environmental festivals, etc.; Promote/support active nature-focused interactions such as interpretive walks, gardening, adventure sports, forest therapy, birding, beach clean-ups, water quality monitoring, bioblitzes, etc.

Increase opportunities for public and community involvement in sustainable resource monitoring

Support/promote existing opportunities for citizen science integration among RCE partners and support community organization and empowerment toward sustainable initiatives

Increase opportunities for public training in land use management practices and resource stewardship

Support/promote on-going collaborative activities among RCE partners; support workforce training initiatives


Enhance ecoliteracy within the region Develop and promote curricula for multiple educational levels that incorporates themes of biodiversity, bioregionalism, conservation education, ecosystem services and knowledge of and empathy for living systems

Increase public and community involvement in resource monitoring and management

Develop new and diverse opportunities for citizen science integration and resource training initiatives; support community organization and empowerment toward sustainable initiatives

Improve access to natural resource and conservation education information and resources among underserved communities

Develop mobile hubs for sharing information about

conservation education and sustainable resource

management

Augment sustainable management of agricultural and forest lands

Promote conservation programs that embrace watershed connectivity, biodiversity, nutrient cycling; habitat restoration, and multifunctional landscapes; work with farmers and landowners from communities around EYNF to integrate sustainable management practices

Promote landscape-scale planning and resource management

Support/engage in regional planning partnerships, management strategies, and conservation projects; support development of recreational opportunities that connect communities and habitats at the landscape scale; advocate for landscape planning policies


Generate and disseminate long-term datasets of biophysical, social, and cultural resources

Support monitoring of vegetation, wildlife, and aquatic resources, and hydrometeorological and atmospheric inputs; collaborate with existing resource consortia and data platforms (e.g., Caribbean Landscape Conservation Cooperative); link to and make publicly available resource datasets

Goal 4. Strengthen sustainable economic development of agricultural, water, and energy

resources.


Develop a summary of existing knowledge about food, water, and energy resources in the region


Increase awareness about sustainable economic development opportunities

Support existing sustainable economic development and workforce training activities of RCE partners; promote/support talks and workshops at schools and universities; present at cultural events; hold community information sessions


Assess potential for implementation of innovative agriculture practices and renewable energy resources in the region

Conduct landscape-scale analyses of resource opportunities

Boost food, water, and energy security at the local level

Support the development of cooperative enterprises, such as community gardens, farmers’ markets, tool-lending libraries, open-source development plans, and resource sharing

Enhance local, sustainable economic production Support development opportunities appropriate to geographic and cultural contexts; support economic diversification and resource complementarity across working landscapes; foster connections between business groups, educational institutions, and community organizations; educate simultaneously about local economic development and sustainability

Augment resource self-sufficiency Promote for sustainable, local agricultural, water use, and renewable energy production and policies; Support cradle-to-cradle production cycles and the implementation of traditional and/or novel technologies appropriate to an island setting

Increase employment Promote development of new workforce training initiatives and technology transfer in sustainable agriculture, water, energy sectors; support low-impact tourism and recreation opportunities


Strengthen capacity of local public governance to promote socially equitable economic growth

Promote economic policies that reduce poverty, invest in marginalized communities, provide equitable access to services, and promote a living wage; engage with the Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Administration to help advance sustainable economic development policies

Goal 5. Enhance individual and collective resilience of human and non-anthropogenic

communities to changing climatic conditions and extreme weather events


Develop a summary of existing knowledge about climate change science and its projected impacts on Puerto Rico, including human and non-human communities


Improve public understanding of complex systems and interdependencies, climate change science, and projected impacts on Puerto Rico

Support/promote existing climate change education initiatives among RCE partners


Improve public understanding of complex systems and interdependencies, climate change science, and projected impacts on Puerto Rico

Promote/support talks and workshops at schools and universities; organize informational tables at cultural events; hold community sessions and workshops

Augment personal resiliency Promote/support training activities that bolster emergency preparation of food, water, and energy resources

Identify community level climate change risks and priorities

Promote community level assessments of climate vulnerabilities, risks, and prioritization of planning strategies

Augment community resiliency of physical infrastructure

Promote system flexibility and redundancy to meet service needs under a wide range of climate conditions; prioritize maintenance and rehabilitation of existing infrastructure; design for future conditions; design for managed failure

Augment community resiliency of social infrastructure

Promote design of more effective institutions and strengthen local governance to manage complex problems, learn from failures, adapt, and transform

Improve resilience for everybody

Engage diverse communities and ensure that resources, services and resiliency are designed and accessible for all; collaborate with the UNA-UAS PR chapter

Promote ecological resilience Promote resource management activities that conserve biological and functional diversity across geographical scales and biophysical gradients


To some extent, the goals and objectives listed above relate to all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, our focus as an RCE will center around three SDGs which encompass the reality of Puerto Rico’s geographic setting as an archipelago and all of the resource, health, governance, and global change challenges we aim to address via the vehicle of sustainability education:

• Goal 13: Climate Action -- Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

• Goal 14: Life below Water -- Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

• Goal 15: Life on Land -- Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

These overarching goals provide a simple yet powerful means of communicating about the importance of our RCE and its relation to life on land and in the water, its relevance to the communities we serve, and the urgency of transitioning toward a sustainable future for the benefit of the Earth and all its inhabitants.

GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

RCE Puerto Rico will bring together multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary members working across

multiple scales to proceed in a collaborative manner toward the achievement of common goals.

The member organizations and their constituents represent educators, NGOs, university

scholars, natural resource managers, students, and community members. All Core and

Supporting Partner organizations (as defined below) have a strong presence in and

commitment to eastern Puerto Rico and the communities around EYNF. Importantly, many of

them also have projects and formal relationships that extend throughout the island, and in

some cases, internationally. These include the University of Puerto Rico, the US Forest Service,

and the Puerto Rico Chapter of the United Nations Association of the United States of America.

Other key partners we are actively trying to engage with, such as the Puerto Rico Department

of Education, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Chamber of

Commerce, and the Economic Development Administration work at local and federal levels. For

this reason, we feel strongly that our proposed name is justified.

Likewise, the inclusive nomenclature will welcome the participation of additional partners

located in other parts of Puerto Rico and support the development of integrated activities and

RCE management. Conversations with representatives from other RCEs have confirmed that a

broader name is beneficial if the intent is to expand geographic partnerships. At the same time,

we recognize the need for a regional focus with respect to decision making and implementation

of shared activities. Therefore, we remain dedicated to our initial focus on the eastern region of

https://www.unausapr.org/


Puerto Rico and the municipalities surrounding EYNF, as discussed throughout this application.

We welcome input from the Global RCE network as to how to effectively develop a governance

model that embraces a country-wide focus yet engages in practical strategies at a regional

scale.

Identification of Key Institutions/Organizations

We have assembled the following list of organizations and institutions, in three tiers: Core

Partners, Supporting Partners, and Potential Partners.

Core Partners – involved in developing/establishing RCE Puerto Rico and responsible for its

management, participation in, and execution of strategies to achieve mutual objectives

• Friends of El Yunque Foundation (FEYF); Co-coordinating body for the RCE Application

and temporary shared secretariat

o A non-profit organization that promotes community education, the protection

and preservation of EYNF resources, climate change awareness, and

environmental and economic stability of surrounding communities through

alliances with the US Forest Service, other NGOs, and citizen participation.

• Center for Landscape Conservation (CLC); Co-coordinating body for the RCE Application

and temporary shared secretariat

o A non-profit organization that has supported and advanced

environmental/forest education, conservation, and technical training in eastern

Puerto Rico. The CLC applies an interdisciplinary (social-biological-physical-

cultural) focus for landscape-scale protection, restoration, and improvement via

the development of technical knowledge and promotion of sustainable resource

management practices, integration of community members, and a commitment

to grassroots development and self-determination.

• University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus

o Environmental Sciences Department (ENVSCI)

▪ An academic unit which participates in interdisciplinary social-ecological

and environmental research in urban and rural settings throughout

Puerto Rico, with a strong presence in the eastern region and EYNF.

Through coursework, lectures, field courses, internships, outreach

programs, trainings, and professional development workshops, the

department provides formal and informal education opportunities to

undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral scholars, along with high

school students, teachers, and natural resource professionals.

o Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Program (Luq-LTER) & Schoolyard

▪ Part of a National Science Foundation program focusing on place-based,

long-term, broad-scale ecological research via multi-disciplinary teams

http://www.amigosdelyunque.org/

https://www.facebook.com/manejoregional/

http://envsci.uprrp.edu/

https://luq.lter.network/


and collaborative efforts. Efforts in the eastern region have focused for

30+ years on studying the long-term effects of natural (hurricanes,

droughts) and human (agriculture, urbanization) disturbances on tropical

forests and stream ecology, and conservation of natural resources in El

Yunque and the surrounding Luquillo Mountains. Current research is also

directed at the interdisciplinary nexus of social and ecological sciences,

specifically the effects of global climate change, atmospheric aerosols

and urbanization on tropical landscapes, and the provision of ecosystem

services. Findings from this work improve understanding and inform

planning and management practices for augmenting sustainable

development.

▪ Luq-LTER also has education and outreach programs that collaborate

with middle and high school aged students and teachers from public and

private schools within the eastern region. The programs focus on

teaching ecosystem science, data analysis and interpretation, and

effective communication of findings, in the context of a changing global

climate.

o Geography Department

▪ An academic unit that promotes the integrated teaching of social and

natural geography principles and their application throughout Puerto

Rico and the Caribbean via coursework, fieldwork, cartography, and the

use of geographic information systems. The department has a long

tradition and strong ties working with schoolteachers and partnering with

local communities through voluntarism. It also is well-positioned within

the higher education sector to identify and support movements of

cultural development toward sustainability. Research topics include social

justice, global warming, gender issues, land use planning, the Puerto

Rican diaspora, historical geography and environmental preservation. The

interdisciplinary scholarship and applied applications produced by faculty

and students have direct relevance to informing about and implementing

sustainable development practices in Puerto Rico. o Faculty of Education

▪ The UPRRP Faculty of Education facilitates the formation of educated

leaders and persons who are committed to reflexive socio-humanistic

and transformative practices that promote the values of justice,

tolerance, democracy and peace. Through the Department of Programs

and Teaching the college embraces a diversity of knowledge and learning

approaches appropriate to the pluralist and intercultural context of

global community in the 21st century.

http://sociales.uprrp.edu/geografia/

http://educacion.uprrp.edu/


• US Forest Service – El Yunque National Forest

o A federal agency with responsibility for developing, implementing, and guiding

projects, practices, uses, and protection measures to ensure sustainable

multiple-use management of El Yunque National Forest (EYNF). The Forest

Service provides support and funding for environmental education, sustainability

and ecosystem service projects, natural resource conservation, and workforce

training in the region. EYNF’s revised management includes a focus on

addressing vulnerability to climate change and extreme events and development

innovative and sustainable resource management practices in partnership with

other federal agencies, academic units, non-profit organizations, state and

municipal governments, and local communities.

• Puerto Rico Chapter of the United Nations Association of the United States of America

(UNA-USA PR)

o A non-profit organization that coordinates programs and activities in the areas of

education and volunteerism, as directly aligned with the principles and goals of

the United Nations. It also spearheads a collaborative effort in sustainable

development, bringing together local stakeholders to teach about, integrate,

advance and measure the SDGs in Puerto Rico. The current working group

engages more than 60 individuals representing 35 from federal agencies, non-

profit organizations, thinktanks, professional guilds, academic institutions, and

private consulting firms.

• Citizens Participatory Committee for El Yunque (CPCEY)

o A coalition of member organizations from diverse sectors, including non-profit,

academics, state and federal government, businesses, tourism, and community

development who work to integrate local communities with EYNF in the process

of co-management of natural and cultural resources at the landscape scale. The

coalition includes representatives from Fundación Amigos de El Yunque, the PR

Department of Natural and Environmental Resource, the PR Planning Board, the

PR Tourism Company, Geoambiente (a public access television program

dedicated to environmental issues and nature conservation), Bahía Beach Resort

and Golf Club, Soul of Bahía (a post-hurricane relief fund), Northeast Ecological

Corridor Coalition, Community Development Alliance, 4-H, and La Mina CERT,

Inc. (a company that provides community assistance and education for managing

natural disasters and emergencies).

• Sierra Club, Puerto Rico

o A local chapter of the national non-profit organization that promotes

community-based educational and conservation activities that further

environmental stewardship and grassroots activism in the region related to

sustainable resource management. Sierra Club is active in several formal and

informal environmental education events and excursions, as well as community-

https://www.fs.usda.gov/elyunque/

https://www.unausapr.org/

https://puertorico.sierraclub.org/


based campaigns to protect ecologically-sensitive areas such as the Northeast

Ecological Corridor, and develop and promote effective and efficient solutions to

global warming and the disposal of solid waste.

• Northeast Ecological Corridor Coalition (NEC)

o An alliance of local, national and international organizations dedicated to the

conservation and sustainable development of the Northeast Ecological Corridor.

The Coalition establishes collaborative agreements and activities among its

partners and serves as a key linkage with other environmental groups in the

region. Members organizations include the Sustainable Development Initiative,

Sierra Club, PR Water Watch, PR Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources

National Wildlife Federation, Surfrider Foundation, Misión Industrial

Environmental Awareness League of the East, Juan Martín Cultural Center, Civic

Recreation Committee of Beltran Community, Association of Fishermen of the

communities of Maternillo and Mansión del Sapo, Fajardo Business and

Professional Association in addition to thousands of individuals.

• San Juan Bay Estuary Program (SJBEP)

o A non-profit entity that designs, implements and tracks restoration actions to

improve water quality and associated ecosystems within the San Juan Bay

Estuary system and its basin. The program involves citizens, visitors and tourists,

and collaborates with the governmental, private, scientific, academic and

community sectors.

• US Forest Service - International Institute of Tropical Forestry (IITF)

o A federal agency dedicated to conducting research that advances practices of

tropical forest ecology on insular, national, and international levels, and

developing and exchanging knowledge critical to sustaining benefits of tropical

forests and grasslands. Through their State and Private Forestry branch, IITF

provides technical assistance and funding to support cooperative forestry, forest

health, urban and community forestry, cooperative fire protection, sustainable

nature-based tourism, and environmental education and interpretation and

projects throughout Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.

Supporting Partners – involved in sharing ideas, providing guidance for understanding the SDGs,

defining priorities, goal setting, integrating sustainability and reporting; participating in

execution of projects with mutual partners outside the RCE community and geographic region.

• RCE Greater Burlington Sustainability Education Network (serving as RCE Puerto Rico

mentor)

o A network of educators, students, researchers, non-profits, government leaders,

businesses, and community members committed to promoting education,

http://www.corredorecologicodelnoreste.org/

https://web.estuario.org/en/home-english/

https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/iitf/

https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/iitf/spforestry

https://www.uvm.edu/gbsen/?Page=default.html


training, and public awareness related to sustainability in the Lake Champlain

basin of Vermont. Representatives of several members have been involved in

collaborative activities with several Puerto Rico Core Partners for many years

(described in “Collaborations”) and have guided the development of RCE Puerto

Rico.

• University of Puerto Rico Agricultural Extension Service

o A practitioner-focused unit that serves as a liaison for transferring technical

knowledge about sustainable management of soil and water resources and

cultivation of tree and food crops to farmers and landowners in the region.

• Juan Martín Multidisciplinary Cultural Center

o A community center and gathering space that develops and promotes activities

that contribute to improving the quality of life of local residents, including

trainings and workshops related to food security, health and well-being, self-

management, environmental education and protection, tourism micro-

enterprises, celebration of local culture, and caring for vulnerable members of

the community.

• Eliezer Nieves-Rodríguez

o Certified interpretative guide trainer and Geography Department professor at

UPRRP; former Special Assistant for Education to the Secretary of the Puerto

Rico Department of Natural Resources and Environment

• Communities from around EYNF (e.g., La Vega, Palmer, Barcelona, Juan Martín,

Maizales)

o Local community groups and schools (public and private) in the region that

engage in resource stewardship and sustainability education activities with Core

Partners.

Potential Partners – not currently engaged with RCE Puerto Rico, but actively working in the

region and/or at the island level, often collaboratively with Core Partners, on projects aligned

with the thematic areas and goals. Can be involved in sharing ideas, identifying and leveraging

resources to achieve common strategic goals, participating in projects, implementing activities;

eligible to participate as Core Partners in the future.

• PR Dept. of Education

• PR Department of Natural and Environmental Resources

• Economic Development Administration

• PR National Institute of Energy and Island Sustainability

• University of Puerto Rico, Graduate School of Planning

• University of Puerto Rico, Humacao – Transdisciplinary Institute of Social Research

Action; Dept. of Biology


• Puerto Rican Education Foundation

• US Fish and Wildlife Service

• Chamber of Commerce

• Municipal governments and association of mayors

• Natural Resource Conservation Service

• El Programa de Educación Comunal de Entrega y Servicio

• Interamerican University, Fajardo

• Pro-Economic Development Alliance of Ceiba

• PR Science, Technology & Research Trust

• Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico - Para la Naturaleza

• Luquillo Farmers’ Market

• Protectores de Cuencas, Inc.

• Ciencia Puerto Rico resource network

• Queremos Sol

• Puerto Rico League of Cooperatives

• Casa Pueblo

• Vitrina Solidaria, sustainable development and small business incubator

• Others to be identified

Partnerships Under Development

It is the intention of RCE Puerto Rico to engage with the Puerto Rico Department of Education,

whether at the island-wide level or regionally through the eastern district office in Humacao.

This will help integrate and implement consistent ESD activities in schools throughout Puerto

Rico. To that effect, we have sent letters to key officials, such as the Director of Alliances, within

the Department of Education. This has been achieved via Core Partners (e.g., Luq-LTER

Schoolyard) who are already committed to RCE Puerto Rico and who have contacts within the

government. The purpose of these letters is to communicate about the RCE initiative,

highlighting where it can align with and bolster the Department’s educational goals, and

inviting them to engage with us. We have yet to receive an official response but will continue to

seek opportunities to dialogue and intersect with the Department of Education and the system

of formal schooling.

We also aim to develop a more formal relationship with the PR Department of Environment

and Natural Resources (DNER), due to the close overlap of many resource management

objectives and strategic priorities with those of RCE Puerto Rico. We have begun conversations

with the regional manager, who is responsible for overseeing activities within the Northeast

Ecological Corridor, and have submitted a letter of invitation for participation in the RCE. As

with the Department of Education, we will continue developing a formal relationship with the

DNER over the coming months.


A third area in which we seek to develop Core and Supporting partner relationships is with

municipal governments, which could facilitate access to information, educational opportunities,

funding, and collaborative initiatives (including grant applications). This coincides with our

geographic emphasis at the municipal level in the eastern region, and our goals to inform policy

and management changes that augment sustainable development. Mayors of the municipalities

of the island are organized by two organizations. Our strategy is to contact both the Federation

of Mayors and the Association of Mayors, which align with the two dominant political parties in

Puerto Rico. Within individual municipalities, departments dedicated to environmental

management, including the maintenance and preservation of natural resources and green

areas, could be excellent allies. Previous experience working with local government officials in

the region has taught us that they are most engaged and responsive when direct value to their

jurisdiction can be clearly articulated. Accordingly, we plan to approach municipal leaders once

the RCE moves beyond the conceptual stage and specific locations and actions have been

identified.

Lastly, our application calls for enhanced relationships with the business sector. Other RCEs

(e.g., Georgetown, Greater Burlington) have indicated this element as a critical stakeholder for

success, helping to leverage funds and other resources for proposed initiatives, as well as local

knowledge in the socio-cultural and economic realms. We recognize that at present our group

of Core Partners has limited representation from the business community. Notable exceptions

include the Citizens Participatory Committee for El Yunque, which counts for-profit entities

among its members, and the Center for Landscape Conservation, which supports small-scale

agricultural entrepreneurs. We anticipate that the RCE can play an important role working at

higher levels of business organization to establish regional policies that favor sustainable

economic development and resilience to climate change. This includes traditional and

alternative economic models. We have sent letters of introduction to the Puerto Rico Chamber

of Commerce and the Puerto Rico League of Cooperatives, and will continue following up as

RCE Puerto Rico develops.

Governance/Management Structure of the RCE

At present, Friends of El Yunque Foundation and the Center for Landscape Conservation serve

as co-coordinating bodies of RCE Puerto Rico for the purpose of overseeing the application

process, with input from Core Partner representatives. They will continue to share the

secretariat until official approval of the RCE. Upon formal recognition, a Steering Committee

will be created, consisting of one representative from each Core Partner organization. The

Steering Committee will use a consensus approach to decide on where the RCE secretariat

should reside and appoint an RCE Coordinator who will take responsibility for organizing and

communicating with the Core Partners and the RCE Global Network. We will consider the

possibility of retaining a co-coordinator model, which has been successful in other localities

(e.g., RCE Saskatchewan). Depending on the availability of financial resources to support

https://www.liga.coop/


coordination activities (see below for more details), a shared model might be most effective at

distributing and accomplishing responsibilities. Ultimately, we will aim to align our governance

structure with our goals and outcomes to effectively outline partner responsibilities and

facilitate activities.

The Steering Committee will meet monthly and within the first six months following formal RCE

designation to develop a more complete governance structure (Figure 3). This will include:

• Establishment of additional policies regarding participation in and formal commitment

to RCE Puerto Rico, contribution of personnel and material resources, decision-making

processes, accountability, and inclusion of additional partners;

• Establishment of sub-committees and specific roles (e.g., Education & Training,

Partnership Development, Communications & Outreach, Research & Transformation,

Resource Arrangements & Funding, Monitoring & Evaluation) necessary to establish

projects, meet the outlined goals and objectives, and evaluate their success;

• Designation of sub-committee leaders who will be responsible for coordinating efforts

on subsequent RCE Puerto Rico initiatives and activities. We have not yet assigned

specific roles beyond the temporary coordinating bodies.

• Development of more detailed strategies and timelines for achieving specific objectives

and determination of lead organizations.

Figure 3. RCE PUERTO RICO governance structure, showing Steering Committee and sub-committees.


Sub-committee leaders will report to the Steering Committee and work with the RCE

Coordinator to communicate accomplishments to the United Nations University.

Communication and development of ties with current and future RCE Puerto Rico supporting

partners will be pursued as part of both short-term and long-term objectives following the

formalization of the Core Partners Steering Committee and subcommittees.

Responsibility for Education and Training will be shared among all Core Partners. Research and

Transformation as well as Monitoring and Evaluation will be guided by Core Partners who have

engaged previously in pedagogical scholarship and formal project assessment. For example, the

University of Puerto Rico, the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Program, and the Forest

Service have research and monitoring structures that can help inform the development of

protocols for the RCE. At the same time, local non-profit groups have robust contacts with the

communities and residents who will be recipients of the sustainability education and should be

included in developing research and evaluation content. The Steering Committee will revisit this

topic as an important action item during the initial core meetings of the RCE to further discuss

priorities and how roles will be distributed.

Regarding the division of responsibilities related to Partnership Development, Communications

and Outreach, and Resource Arrangements and Funding, these topics also require additional

dialogue among Core Partners. Following RCE approval the Steering Committee will review

existing capacities, discuss where they can be leveraged toward achieving our planned

activities, and identify where resources from additional partners may be necessary.

The UNA-UAS PR and RCE Greater Burlington have experience with UN frameworks and models.

They will play important roles in providing guidance for continuing development of RCE Puerto

Rico’s governance structure, programmatic model, and evaluation. To the extent possible, they

will also help coordinate and promote collaborative activities that coincide with their

organizational goals related to advancement of the SDGs in Vermont and Puerto Rico.

Short-Term and Long-Term Resource Arrangements

Personnel time of Core Partner members who have participated in developing the RCE Puerto

Rico application has been provided in-kind by participant organizations and leveraged against

existing financial resources. We will explore opportunities to establish formal inter-

organizational agreements that allow for sharing of staff time and material resources when

working on collaborative initiatives. There are memoranda of understanding already in place

between several Core Partner organizations as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars being

managed jointly for existing sustainability projects in the region. Therefore, we are confident

that new cooperative agreements can be enacted in pursuit of RCE Puerto Rico priorities.


We recognize that with official designation of RCE Puerto Rico and the commencement of

activities, external funding will likely be required to compensate the time of the RCE

Coordinator, and perhaps other members involved in administrative and governance duties. In

anticipation of the need for financial support, the Friends of El Yunque Foundation (co-

coordinating body) has begun identifying and soliciting grant-based agencies (see Strategies

associated with Goal 1 above) to provide seed funding and cover the part-time salary of a

Coordinator and Administrative Assistant for a period of two years, beginning January 2020. We

are leveraging the strength of our existing collaborative partnerships to justify approval of

funding in advance of official RCE recognition. Receipt of formal RCE status will further

strengthen our position.

More detailed analysis of project costs and resource needs and arrangements will be conducted

early in the inaugural year, in accordance with the established goals and objectives. The results

will be used to establish official agreements and define an operational budget, which will serve

as the basis for an external funding sub-committee to solicit grants from private foundations

and government and international agencies. Among the organizations and institutions we may

target for funding are private entities such as the Puerto Rico Community Foundation, the

Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundation, the Center for a New

Economy, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Banco Popular Foundation. The State

and Private Forestry and International Cooperation programs, both units within the

International Institute of Tropical Forestry (Core Partner), also provide resources and funding

for educational outreach activities and technical assistance. Developing international

relationships with the RCE global network may lead to promising funding opportunities such as

those available from the Global Environment Facility and its partners who provide resources for

transforming conceptual visions about the SDGs into action. Regarding alternative mechanisms

to support RCE administrative duties, we will investigate student internship and workforce

training opportunities such as those sponsored by the Student Conservation Association,

American Conservation Experience, and the Natural Resource Career Tracks program, which

have partnered successfully in the past with Core Partner institutions.

The provision of meeting and collaborative workspaces as well as technology infrastructure for

remote communication has thus far been provided by the Forest Service and the University of

Puerto Rico Environmental Sciences Department. We have decided to adopt a rotating meeting

space among Core Partners, to further development trust and share hosting responsibilities.

Locations for collective assembly include Forest Service Headquarters, El Portalito Hub, El Verde

and Sabana Research Stations, offices of the Sierra Club, and University of Puerto Rico’s

classrooms and auditoria. Within the municipalities of the region there are also numerous

community centers available for meetings and events, which provide opportunities for


gathering and direct engagement with citizens. Solicitation of the use of these community

spaces can also help establish more formal ties with community leaders in the region.

Furthermore, the Forest Service has access to a database called NatureWatch Interpretation

and Conservation Education for tracking project implementation, community involvement, and

we are considering using that tool or something similar to quantify the impacts of RCE Puerto

Rico sustainability education projects and activities. UPRRP, Luq-LTER, and the Forest Service

also have extensive spatially explicit social, ecological, and bio-geophysical datasets and

technological resources that are available for use in carrying out research and analysis activities

relevant to the goals and objectives of the RCE.

Criteria and Milestones for Monitoring and Evaluation

Following designation as an RCE, we will form a sub-committee to develop a monitoring and

evaluation plan within the first six months that encompasses the outlined goals, objectives, and

resource arrangements, establishes outcomes/milestones, and determines indicators against

which we can measure accountability among partners and the impacts of our actions (Figure 4).

As a starting point, we will base the monitoring process on the principles outlined in the UN

Development Program’s Integrated Framework to Support Local Governance and Local

Development, which outlines the provision of six key inputs and outputs of local governance

systems:

Inputs

1. The facilitation of democratic accountability;

2. Strengthening rule of law and security;

3. The development of necessary administrative capacity for development management

and service delivery;

4. The facilitation of necessary fiscal empowerment and resources;

5. The availability of spatial information;

6. The crucial acceleration of social capital formation.

Outputs

1. Local and regional associations empowered with meaningful autonomy and embedded

in effective accountability networks;

2. Equitable and effective delivery of goods and services;

3. Inclusive decision-making processes involving women and men;

4. A secure environment where the rule of law prevails;

5. The sustainable use and management of natural resources;

6. Increased economic opportunities (and jobs) for women and men.


From there, we will refer to the Global Indicator Framework for the Sustainable Development

Goals and Targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which provides

quantitative and qualitative targets and indicators for tracking progress on all 17 SDGs.

With respect to implementing the monitoring and evaluation process, we recognize the need to

consider various strategies that include both internal and external evaluation. The Monitoring

and Evaluation sub-committee will review the evaluation capacity by collaborators within the

group of Core Partners, in addition to considering educational researchers and professionals

from academic departments institutions and private consulting companies. Monitoring and

evaluation will occur on a periodic basis (interval to be determined, but not to exceed one year)

and will be supervised by the sub-committee. We will complement the global indicators with

local feedback from community partners to identify programmatic shortcomings and make

recommendations for improved RCE functioning. The results will be reported to the Core

Partners and summarized in reports to the Global RCE Network.

Considering that we are just starting out as an RCE, we will allow for sufficient flexibility with

our monitoring and evaluation so that we can build additional trust among partners and

establish an atmosphere of collaborative action. Therefore, we will build in motivational

components that enable us to not only improve our initiatives but also showcase our successes

to mobilize further resources and interest. We will also establish formal communication with

other RCEs to seek assistance and counseling regarding the monitoring and evaluation as we

build up our local working group.

In addition to helping evaluate our internal programmatic initiatives, the data we collect by

monitoring progress toward defined goals and objectives will contribute to the statistical

capacity building needed to measure the SDGs in Puerto Rico, as there are 255 indicators

measured by this global project. We will share our findings with the Puerto Rico Statistics

Institute--which will be developing a website and dashboard about the SDGs in Puerto Rico.


We have developed a general timeline of activities for developing RCE Puerto Rico:

• May 2019 – Submission of the first draft application and application summary for RCE

designation

• June 2019 – Comments from the Global RCE Service Centre and Peer Reviewers

• September 2019 – Submission of the final draft application and application summary;

participation in RCE Americas Meeting in Burlington, VT

• November 2019 – Fall Core Partners meeting (pre-RCE designation)

• December 2019 – Hopeful acceptance to the RCE Global Network

• January – June 2020

o Further development of governance structure, review of existing capacities

among Core Partners and identification of additional collaborative needs

o Determination of official secretariat, designation of RCE Coordinator, and

development of sub-committees and roles

o Establishment of formal resource arrangements, review/updating of goals,

objectives, and strategies; development of calendar of activities and milestones;

determination of evaluation indicators

o Continued solicitation of funding sources to help support RCE coordinator and

administrative assistant positions

Figure 4. Logic model summarizing the vision for the entire RCE process from initial inputs through strategies and outcomes, to expected impacts of transformational change.


o Visit from RCE Greater Burlington partners to discuss cross-site RCE collaboration

and development of joint proposals

• July – December 2020

o Initiation of strategies and activities to achieve short term objectives

o Solicitation of funding to support RCE Coordinator and administrative costs

o Monitoring review of first year of RCE operation

o Summary year review and reporting to Core Partners and Global RCE Network

• January 2021 and beyond

o Continuation of activities to achieve short term objectives

o Commencement of strategies and activities to achieve long-term objectives

o Identification and solicitation of funding to support programmatic initiatives

o Periodic monitoring and evaluation, reporting to partners and global network

Documents Proving Commitment from Key Institutions

Please see Appendix A for accompanying letters of support from the following partner

organizations:

• Friends of El Yunque Foundation (Fundación Amigos de El Yunque)

• Center for Landscape Conservation (Centro para la Conservación del Paisaje)

• University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, Department of Environmental Sciences &

Tropical Plant Ecology and Evolution Laboratory

• Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Program and Schoolyard Program

• University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, Department of Geography

• University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, Faculty of Education

• US Forest Service – El Yunque National Forest

• United Nations Association of the United States, Puerto Rico Chapter

• Citizens Participatory Committee for El Yunque

• Sierra Club of Puerto Rico

• Northeast Ecological Corridor Coalition

• San Juan Bay Estuary Program

• US Forest Service – International Institute of Tropical Forestry

• Eliezer Nieves-Rodríguez, certified interpretative guide trainer and professor of

geography

• RCE Greater Burlington Sustainability Education Network


COLLABORATION

Collaboration Among Regional/Local Stakeholders

The region already has extensive organizational and collaborative capacity necessary to carry

out RCE Puerto Rico activities that support education, research, and training for sustainable

development and resiliency. Among the Core Partners identified, there are multiple points of

overlap in their vision statements and strategic plans, and many formal and informal

agreements are already in place, across multiple sectors and scales that address issues related

to conservation education, sustainable land use management and resource development, and

resilience to climate change, among other themes. Here we highlight several of the

partnerships, activities, and the diverse nature of their relationships, primarily among informal

and non-formal education stakeholders in the region.

• Friends of El Yunque Foundation (FEYF) has a cooperative agreement with the US

Forest Service and leads the first citizen science monitoring program in El Yunque, which

is focused on vegetation monitoring and sustainable co-management of natural

resources. The initiative engages volunteers from communities around the forest in the

collection of ecological, and provides training workshops about forest ecology, land use

legacies, resource conservation, ecosystem services and their relationship to UN

Sustainable Development Goals.

• FEYF also collaborates with the Forest Service to coordinate volunteer support to

restore and maintain an ecologically sensitive trail located in the El Toro Wilderness

Area, providing citizens with hands-on opportunities to learn about and contribute to

forest management practices.

• FEYF coordinates outreach activities related to celebration and conservation of forest

resources (e.g., International Forest Day) in partnership with more than two dozen non-

profit, academic, governmental and community-based environmental and cultural

groups working in eastern Puerto Rico.

• FEYF promotes communication and education about climate change, its causes and

effects, and strategies for mitigation and adaptation to non-scientific audiences,

including the 2018 publication of a book, Puerto Rico y el Mundo: El Cambio Climático, in

collaboration with the US Forest Service, the University of Puerto Rico Dept. of

Environmental Sciences, and local high school educators. The book is in Spanish and

focus on the specific effects of climate change on the resources of Puerto Rico.

• The Center for Landscape Conservation (CLC) participated in the interdisciplinary team

created by the US Forest Service for the revision of the EYNF Forest Management Plan

that will be presented this year. It coordinated the public participation strategy for

community input, advised on the forest practices considered, and guided the

development of management zones defined for the forest.


• The CLC partners with the Agricultural Extension Service (AES), Natural Resource

Conservation Service, and the Sierra Club to connect farmers in the eastern part of the

island with educational resources and training opportunities, including workshops on

food security and the development of land management plans, and promoting the

presence of pollinators on agricultural lands. They have also collaborated to create a

network of collaboration and communication among farmers of the eastern region

toward the creation of a conservation district office.

• The CLC, AES and Sierra Club also collaborate to develop and promote community

governance, planning, and activities like summer camps for the youth in the

communities of La Vega and Barcelona in Río Grande which integrate concepts and

activities related to recycling, reforestation, food management, environmental

stewardship, and landscape conservation.

• The CLC is collaborating with AES and the community of La Vega to develop a

community agricultural project to promote the production of local agricultural crops

with the objective of providing additional food options to the residents and stimulating

community agro-business to sell products in nearby restaurants.

• The CLC has a cooperative agreement with the US Forest Service to monitor and

manage invasive species within the Espiritu Santo River watershed and promote

community education about the riparian connectivity between upstream lands within

the forest and downstream lands within adjacent communities.

• The CLC has a cooperative agreement with the US Forest Service to develop

management plans that support the application of sustainable practices on farms and

private forest lands around El Yunque. These include alternatives like analog forestry

that mimics the architectural structure and ecological function of the preexisting

vegetation of the area, and can be designed to provide economic, social and

environmental benefits. The project integrates landowner associations and promotes

biodiversity and sustainable food systems across scales, from individual land holdings to

the entire management region of the zone.

• The CLC developed for the US Forest Service to develop a web site, “Vamos al Bosque”,

that provides educational information and learning tools about EYNF for educators,

guides, students, and visitors of all ages. The materials are developed from sustainability

perspective, promoting the intertwined nature of natural and cultural resources, quality

of life of ecosystems, and emphasizing the role of humans as members and stewards of

the earth community.

• The CLC has participated in collaborative agreements with the US Fish and Wildlife

Service involving development and management of habitat restoration projects in the

Northeast Ecological Corridor, and with the Natural Resource Conservation Service to

implement technical initiatives for improving conservation and hydrologic flows in the

Fajardo River watershed.

http://vamosalbosque.org/resources/#resources2




• The CLC shares administrative costs and office space with the non-profit HASER, which

provides guidance on governance for organizing, training and fiscal oversight of small-

scale community-based groups following the principles of equity and quality of life for

all.

• The CLC collaborated with the community of La Vega in Río Grande to incorporate a

residents’ organization, Friends and Neighbors of El Yunque, and supports their work

with local residents to foster sustainable development initiatives related to

strengthening governance and improving quality of life. and bolstering resistance to

extreme climate events such as hurricanes and drought through disaster preparation

planning. This includes planning and trainings for community members to be prepared

for hurricane season. This latter effort is conducted in partnership with the University of

Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, School of Public Health, and the Educational

Development Center.

• The CLC collaborates with small farms to support the development of the project

“Composta Creativa Comunitaria”, aimed at promoting and teaching composting

strategies with the integration of earthworms.

• The CLC collaborates with Hydroceiba, a hydroponic production project in Ceiba where

water pumps and other electrical devices are supported by solar power. The CLC

provides technical capacity regarding sustainability principles of using solar power and

harvesting rainwater, as well as administrative support in identify funding sources to

rebuild after Hurricanes Irma and María.

• The CLC collaborated with the US Forest Service in developing a Network of Outdoor

Activities that includes curricular resources for teachers and students focused around

sustainability themes related to biodiversity, ecosystem services, and food security.

These activities were piloted within five schools around EYNF.

• The US Forest Service collaborates with Vitrina Solidaria in promoting small business

opportunities for local entrepreneurs in the working landscapes around El Yunque, by

providing seminars on business development, management, marketing, and career

development.

• The US Forest Service is developing relationships with communities around EYNF to

establish Portalito Hubs, small community spaces that allow for community organizing,

sharing of information via resource libraries, engagement, and training specific to local

needs.

• The US Forest Service collaborates with municipal leaders and communities around

EYNF to host camps, school groups, and sponsor environmental education talks about

rain and cloud forest ecosystems, forest conservation, and the effects of climate change.

• The US Forest Service collaborated with the Luis Muñoz Marín Foundation and middle

school students from Palmer, Río Grande to develop the Children’s Tropical Forest


project, which used photojournalism and creative arts such as sculpture, dance and art

to highlight ecosystem services of pollinators and the effects of climate change.

• The US Forest Service collaborates with Worcester Polytechnic Institute to design post-

hurricane watershed restoration projects for the Río Espiritu Santo Watershed. This

included developing techniques for revegetation, bank stabilization, and invasive species

control at the Eliza Colberg Girl Scout camp.

• The US Forest Service collaborates with the Community Environmental Leadership

Program at the InterAmerican University in Fajardo to conduct monitoring and habitat

management of watershed, coastal and marine resources.

• The US Forest Service collaborates with high schools and universities in the region to

participate in water quality testing and monitoring during World Water Day.

• The US Forest Service has a collaborative agreement with the Municipality of Naguabo

Tourism Office to co-manage the Río Sabana recreation site.

• The US Forest Service collaborates with Eastern National Association to produce

interpretive materials about forest EYNF resources and conservation education

programs.

• The US Forest Service collaborates with the Student Conservation Association, and the

American Conservation Experience to provide internships and workforce development

to youth and students from local underserved communities in the arenas of wildlife and

vegetative management, conservation education, historical heritage, recreation, and

ecological restoration and maintenance.

• The US Forest Service is collaborating with 4-H in the development of native species

greenhouses to promote biodiversity and reforestation following the impact of

Hurricane María.

• Members of the CPCEY work with the US Forest Service to incorporate input from

diverse stakeholders, including citizens and neighbors, in the implementation of

strategies for conservation ecology and resource monitoring, restoration, sustainable

economic development, improved local governance, and environmental education.

• Members of the CPCEY have provided input to the US Forest Service regarding their

redesigning of the Portal Visitor Center in EYNF for educational and conservation-related

displays and activities.

• Members of the CPCEY collaborated with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to develop

middle school science curriculum and conduct educational workshops with students

related to discovering and exploring El Yunque. Activities included field trips to the

forest and a Project Learning Tree workshop for teachers in the eastern region.

• For Nature, a branch of the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust, is collaborating with the

CPCEY, the Northeast Ecological Corridor Coalition (NEC), the Sierra Club, and the US

Forest Service to facilitate the development of a reef to ridge trail that links coastal and

upland habitats and celebrates the connectivity of natural and human resources.


• The Sierra Club supports CLC initiatives, including the provision of recovery funds

following Hurricane María to provide food and cover basic needs including purchasing

solar lamps to distribute in low-income communities around El Yunque. The recovery

funds were also provided to farmers in the process of reestablishing their farms and

crop systems after the storm.

• The Sierra Club collaborated with the NEC to advocate for protection of the corridor,

which led to its designation as a Natural Reserve in 2012. It continues to support

protection of the reserve today against on-going development pressures.

• The Sierra Club maintains an educational field visit program throughout the island for

their associates that includes community interactions and visits to conservation,

agricultural and rural economic projects.

• The NEC collaborates with the Sierra Club in a sea turtle watch program throughout the

coastal areas of the NEC that integrates conservation education and resource

management programs.

• The NEC has instituted a yearly program of activities (e.g., el abrazo al Corredor,

Leatherback Turtle Festival, tours in the NEC) that educate and integrates community

participants in conservation initiatives.

• The San Juan Bay Estuary Program (SJBEP) operates an educational program with local

communities and residents to promote principles and best practices of environmental

education and interpretation of Puerto Rico’s natural and cultural heritage. This involves

thematic, relevant and entertaining educational activities to achieve lasting changes in

action toward stewardship of the natural and social environment. At the same time,

SJBEP supports the communities and environmental groups with which it collaborates.

• The SJBEP has developed and conducts a water quality monitoring program that

collaborates with community volunteers to collect data about the health of aquatic

ecosystems. The program includes both conceptual components that teach about

conservation and watershed science, as well as practical training of citizen scientists to

monitor water quality in the San Juan Bay Estuary.

• The SJBEP collaborates with formal and non-formal educators through an educational

program that coordinates and conducts professional training workshops about the

relations between society and the environment. Themes include: From the forest to the

Estuary: a natural connection, Population Connection Workshop, and Estuarine

Biodiversity Workshop, among others.

• The SJBEP has developed a workforce training unit on resiliency that operates in four

communities (Loiza, Cataño, La Perla-Old San Juan and Caimito) within the limits of the

San Juan Bay Estuary watershed. The unit provides opportunities for undergraduates,

recent graduates and/or graduate school students to work as interns and gain practical

experience developing vulnerability assessment reports for focal watersheds.


Involvement of Higher Education Institution and Local Schools

The activities described above are complemented by a rich network of formal educational

partnerships that reside within academic institutions including universities, research institutes,

and secondary schools, as follow.

• Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Program (Luq-LTER) is a coalition of academic partners, administratively based at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus Dept. of Environmental Sciences (UPRRP ENVSCI). Collaborating institutions include the US Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Georgia, Florida International University, University of New Hampshire, Universidad del Turabo, University of Connecticut, Caribbean Landscape Conservation Cooperative, National Ecological Observatory Network, Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of New Mexico, among others.

• Luq-LTER also partners with the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory (LCZO) which investigates the effects of weathering, biogeochemical cycling, hydrologic processes, and atmospheric inputs on landscape evolution and function, and the Tropical Responses to Altered Climate Experiment (TRACE) that examines the impacts of climate change on soil structure, carbon cycling, and plant physiology in a tropical forest ecosystem.

• In addition to conducting primary research, Luq-LTER has several active education and

outreach programs that benefit students at multiple education levels, many of them

from underrepresented minority groups. The programs include:

o LTER Schoolyard & Data Jam – an immersion-based program for Puerto Rican

middle and high school students and teachers led by UPRRP staff in partnership

with The Learning Partnership, and Forward Learning, Inc., and the LCZO. The

program focuses on scientific field protocols for researching plant, soil and

stream ecology, data analysis and interpretation, and communication of findings

using traditional and creative methods.

o LTER Schoolyard also collaborated with Freshwater Unlimited, Inc. to produce

an educational video about the stream habitats and organisms of El Yunque and

their role in providing clean water to surrounding communities.

o Journey To El Yunque – a four-week bilingual curriculum unit developed by The

Learning Partnership that engages middle school students in investigating the

effects of hurricanes on the Luquillo Mountains and considering the long-term

implications of increased hurricane activity.

o Natural Resource Career Tracks – A UPRRP-based program funded by the USDA

National Institute of Food and Agriculture that provides Puerto Rican university

students with summer internships, professional training workshops, networking

opportunities with potential natural resource management employers, and other

career enhancement activities.


o Research for Undergraduate Students – A summer research experience funded

by the National Science Foundation that provides training for undergraduate

students in the fields of biological, ecological, and environmental science, in

collaboration with an academic mentor. The program is hosted by UPRRP’s El

Verde Field Station.

o Volunteer Research Interns – Luq-LTER provides opportunities for post-

baccalaureate research assistants to perform ecological research in long-term

monitoring projects. Students are oriented to research goals and trained in field

protocols, data management, and identification of tropical biota. Field trips and

seminars by scientists enhance their field experiences.

o Graduate Students – Luq-LTER research engages numerous graduate students

from more than a dozen collaborating institutions (see above). Approximately

half are underrepresented minorities, mostly of Puerto Rican origin.

• UPRRP ENVSCI also provides interdisciplinary coursework and research through its

master’s and PhD programs, which include focal areas such as natural and human

systems, environmental sociology, water management, economics, physical geology,

water resources, geographic information systems, and tropical island marine resources.

Much of the content is presented within the relevant context of the urbanizing tropics

and is complemented by field work that helps students identify environmental

challenges and develop sustainable solutions for the 21st century. There are several

current educational and workforce training projects underway that involve

collaborations with Core Partner organizations, as well as other Puerto Rican and

international institutions. These include:

o ENVSCI faculty, affiliated researchers, and students cooperate with high school

teachers and students from schools in the eastern region to conduct trainings on

how to survey tree cover and structure and assess ecosystem services using i-

Tree methodology. Similar trainings are also conducted with natural resource

professionals in San Juan and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in

collaboration with the US Forest Service International Institute of Tropical

Forestry. o ENVSCI faculty and students collaborate with the US Forest Service to

investigate the Chemical, physical and optical properties of atmospheric aerosols and the impact of these aerosols on climate, ecosystems, and human health.

o ENVSCI faculty and students collaborated with the Puerto Rico Department of

Natural and Environmental Resources, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the

Sierra Club to investigate the distribution and conservation status of a critically

endangered tree species in coastal dry forest of Fajardo.

• UPRRP Dept. of Geography provides coursework in human and physical geography,

geographic information systems and other relevant subjects associated with sustainable


development that can provide opportunities to develop collaborative research and

student projects associated with the Puerto Rico RCE initiative.

o Geography faculty and students participate in an internship program with the

Capetillo sector of the community of Río Piedras where faculty and students

participate in service-learning projects that help improve social, economic and

environmental conditions. The initiative is part of the Center of Urban Action for

Community and Business (CAUCE Centro de Acción Urbana Comunitaria y

Empresarial de Rio Piedras) that promotes local urban agricultural initiatives

provides social support to residents.

o Geography is working to establish a laboratory focused on climate issues and its

impact on communities and environmental conditions. The laboratory will be a

resource that incorporates interdisciplinary research approaches and integrates

collaboratively with the other university departments and community partners.

• UPRRP Faculty of Education provides undergraduate and graduate level coursework in

K-12 teacher training, curricular theory and design, leadership in educational

organizations, and educational research and evaluation, among other important themes

relevant to sustainability education. Additionally, the Faculty of Education supports

numerous departments, projects, centers and initiatives that provide opportunities for

integrating sustainability practice. These include:

o Laboratory schools that provide real-world teaching and learning experiences at

the pre-school, elementary, and secondary levels.

o The Institute for Education and Learning Development, with a focus on

“Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics” (STEM) topics.

o The Center for Study of Reading, Writing, and Child Literature.

o The Collaborative Project for Accompanying Nearby Schools develops learning

partnerships between the university, professors and schools in the San Juan

metropolitan area.

o The UNESCO Department of Education for Peace and UNESCO Department of

High School Administration, Innovation, and Collaboration support

interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary academic research and learning and

scholarship.

o The Center for Education Research publishes innovative educational scholarship

via the Puerto Rico Journal of Education.

o The School of Family Ecology and Nutrition emphasizes the role of human

beings as active, dynamic participants in families, communities, and society in

general.


Partnerships with the University of Vermont, Shelburne Farms, and other RCE

Greater Burlington Members

Strong collaborative and mutually beneficial ties exist between several Core Partner members

of RCE Puerto Rico and members of the RCE Greater Burlington Sustainability Education

Network in Vermont, whom have been deeply engaged as mentors in the process of developing

our RCE. These interactions date back more than a decade and have resulted in collaborative

exchange and research opportunities, numerous cross-site projects and knowledge transfer

related to sustainability education and the thematic areas proposed in the application.

• UPRRP ENVSCI faculty collaborated with researchers at the University of Vermont

Rubenstein School for Environment and Natural Resources (UVM) in developing a

comparative place-based landscape analysis course that examined forested landscape

and management practices between Vermont and Puerto Rico utilizing holistic and

integrative approaches to look for complementarity and common ground. A significant

portion of the course’s attention was focused on El Yunque National Forest and its

associated watersheds. The course included interaction with a diversity of professionals

from several island-based public, private, and non-profit agencies, including the CLC, the

Forest Service, the Sierra Club, and the Northeast Ecological Corridor Coalition.

• ENVSCI faculty collaborated with scholars and students at UVM, the CLC, the International

Institute of Tropical Forestry and Casa Pueblo to carry out a place-based landscape

exploration of the cultural and natural history of the town of Adjuntas, PR, in the central

mountains. The project engaged citizens and students in the data collection process and

culminated in a series of educational presentations about the intertwined elements of

coupled nature-human systems. It was modeled on the Place Based Landscape Analysis and

Community Engagement Program, a partnership of UVM and Shelburne Farms, two key

members of the Greater Burlington Sustainability Education Network. A web page with

information about the social-ecological landscape of Adjuntas was produced as part of the

educational resources developed from the project.

• ENVSCI collaborates with the CLC and the University of Vermont Spatial Analysis Lab on

a US Department of Agriculture funded project to enhance the teaching and

educational capacity for employing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (drones) technology for

agricultural and food security monitoring, assessing the effects of natural disasters, and

making informed management decisions. The focal landscape for this project is eastern

Puerto Rico around EYNF. • ENVSCI faculty and affiliated researchers are collaborating with researchers at UVM on

developing a socio-environmental synthesis case study, sponsored by the Socio-

Environmental Synthesis Center. The case study will center on resilience to climate change

in Puerto Rico, specifically the eastern region and the communities adjacent to El Yunque

National Forest. The conceptual focus is on how the augmentation of extreme events will


influence human health, economic development, resource conservation, and agricultural

production, and how local communities are enhancing their understanding of and adapting

to climate change in a tropical setting.

• The Luq-LTER Schoolyard program collaborates with the Vermont EPSCoR Research on

Adaptation to Climate Change program, matching Puerto Rico high school teams with

academic mentors in Vermont to investigate the interaction of climate change and land

use on hydrological processes and nutrient transport in their communities. Several of

the participating high schools are located in the eastern region around EYNF.

• Puerto Rico high school students and teachers participating in the Vermont EPSCoR

program participated in a collaborative discussion with students from the Burlington City

and Lake Semester about implementation of UN Sustainable Development Goals in

Puerto Rico and Vermont.

• RCE Greater Burlington collaborated with CLC following Hurricane María and was

instrumental in providing financial and material relief aid for communities in northeast

Puerto Rico. In March 2018, a group of representatives from RCE Greater Burlington

traveled to Puerto Rico to work on post-storm clean-up and restoration projects around

EYNF through direct connection with communities, farmers and agency partners. They

also met with Core Partner representatives to provide guidance in developing RCE

Puerto Rico.

• CLC staff and a teacher from Río Grande have participated in the Shelburne Farms

Summer Institute, which builds capacity and understanding about Education for

Sustainability as related to regional and global food systems, and their connections to

climate change, health, education, ecological, economic and cultural systems, and food

sovereignty, among other topics.

Synergistic Opportunities

It is important to highlight that across the different types of activities listed above, and

regardless of their status as formal or informal education opportunities, many of these

collaborative projects have been made possible and grew directly out of the cooperative

relationships established in previous projects. This is proof positive of the synergistic, value-

added nature of these interactions and demonstrates RCE Puerto Rico’s potential to leverage

institutional partnerships to implement activities that serve common goals in the region.

Creating an RCE will further enhance these relationships and generate additional synergies by

providing a structured, inclusive platform that allows members:

• Communicate more effectively with each other;

• Perceive and analyze from novel perspectives the work of individual partner groups and

identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement;


• Identify points of commonality among partners that through collaboration can lead to

resource sharing, increased efficiencies, and greater success for existing and future

projects;

• Develop common goals and strategic approaches (additional to those outlined in this

application) that align with the goals of the partner groups and fall within the thematic

areas;

• Implement action-based programs and activities toward new sustainability initiatives

and the achievement of knowledge transfer and training aligned with the SDGs;

• Leverage the assets of collaborating partners to access new contacts, resources for

project implementation and evaluation, and funding opportunities, both domestically

and internationally;

• Promote as a united front the work of sustainability educators and practitioners in the

region with target audiences and potential partners;

• Showcase/share our accomplishments and best practices throughout Puerto Rico, the

Caribbean, and globally; and

• Interact with, learn from, and develop reciprocal relationships with members of the

international RCE community toward the global achievement of the SDGs.

ON-GOING AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES

Most of the projects described above in “Collaborations” are on-going and will continue among

the identified partners into the future. These initiatives can be organized into four general

categories:

• Public education and community awareness activities that focus on conservation

education and land stewardship, sustainable resource management, climate change,

local governance, small-business development, food, water and energy security, and

ecosystem services;

• Formal research and academic training programs focused on structure and function of

terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the urbanizing tropics, analysis of social-ecological

systems and resource flows, and the application sustainability science for augmenting

resiliency to dynamic socio-economic and climatic change.

• Professional workforce development activities that focus on ecological assessment and

restoration, biodiversity conservation, sustainable land use practices, and incorporation

of technological innovations for enhanced resource monitoring;

• Cross-site and cross-cultural interchange of people, ideas, and resources that link

scientific investigation and sustainability education with environmental policy and

management.


In most cases, these on-going activities will not be altered. However, with the establishment of

the RCE and commencement of bi-monthly Core Partner meetings there will be more

communication about projects and activities among groups. We anticipate that this will lead to

new opportunities for collaboration and resource sharing within the scope of existing

agreements.

With respect to planned activities relevant to education for sustainable development, we

propose the following coordinated efforts, to be implemented over several years using

strategies outlined in this application:

• Participate in the 8th RCE Americas meeting (Goal 1), to be held in Burlington, Vermont.

Maintaining robust and active relations with our mentor RCE, the Greater Burlington

Sustainability Network, and developing new connections with international

collaborators, are essential to the growth of Puerto Rico as an RCE centered on

education for sustainability. Accordingly, we intend to send Core Partner

representatives to attend the meeting in September 2019, where we will observe and

engage with the broader RCE community. Five RCE Puerto Rico individuals have already

registered for the meeting with the Global RCE Service Centre. At the meeting we look

forward to interacting with other RCEs in the Americas that have similar priorities. For

example, RCE Georgetown is also focused on resilience to climate change, and has a

Solar Ambassador program that links students, solar energy policy, non-profits, and

business partners in the financing and installation of solar energy on non-profit

organizations in their region. We would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with

Georgetown around the theme of renewable energy, and help link them with Puerto

Rico-based groups working toward renewable, sustainable resources and energy self-

sufficiency (e.g., Queremos Sol). It is likely other possibilities for innovative collaboration

will result from the regional meeting. Similarly, Puerto Rico’s experiences with natural

disasters can be shared with others in the Americas and beyond (Southeast Asia, for

example) for joint initiatives/learning on coastal adaptation and resilience.

• Develop integrative hubs for community engagement, interaction, and sustainability

education (Goal 2). Public knowledge of sustainability concepts and their relevance to

health and well-being is low in the region. This stems in part from the lack of access to

information by diverse and underserved communities, and incomplete efforts on the

part of formal and informal educators to reach those communities. We propose to

develop multiple community hubs that can serve as common ground gathering spaces

where people from the community come together to organize, interact, share

information and resources, and provide educational trainings. The idea would

complement efforts of the Forest Service that are already underway to establish

“Portalito” hubs in EYNF to teach about conservation and forest resources. Via RCE

https://www.queremossolpr.com/


Puerto Rico, we would collaborate with the Forest Service by creating additional spaces

focused on sustainability principles and ecosystem services, in communities where the

Forest Service does not have a presence. Potential outcomes include the development

of outdoor classrooms, and a mobile education center (“Mobilito”) that travels to

schools and communities throughout the region. Among the Core Partners working on

related projects in the region are Friends of El Yunque Foundation, the Center for

Landscape Conservation, and other community groups that participate in the Citizens

Participatory Committee for El Yunque. Specific leadership details and contributing roles

will be discussed and evaluated by the Education and Training sub-committee once the

RCE is established.

• Develop a collaborative watershed partnership for the region (Goal 3). Watersheds

connect landscapes and facilitate the movement of resources, including soils, nutrients,

vegetation, wildlife, people, capital, and ideas. Their effective and sustainable

management requires a comprehensive approach that integrates stewardship and

education efforts across scales from individuals to the entire regional population.

Furthermore, with current and anticipated budget cuts across resource management

agencies in the public sector, leveraging of authorities and capacities is essential to

achieving long-term goals and objectives that span diverse geographies and political

jurisdictions. We aim to establish a multi-sector partnership to promote integrated

conservation initiatives in watersheds, soils and geomorphological resources starting in

the eastern region and the lands within and adjacent to El Yunque National Forest.

A key strategy can be to hold workshops to train citizen science volunteers in

management practices related to erosion control, water quality and quantity, hillslope

stability, and vegetation management. They could then work with collaborating partner

groups to implement watershed restoration projects on public and private lands as part

of on-going recovery efforts following Hurricane María. We anticipate that these

partnerships for long-term monitoring and management of regional resources will result

in outcomes such as landscape-scale improvements in water quality, habitat

connectivity, control of invasive species, and landslide prevention. Conversation about

the partnership has been initiated by the US Forest Service, and its implementation

could be realized with support from resource specialists working with organizations such

as Agricultural Extension Service, Friends of El Yunque Foundation, and the Center for

Landscape Conservation. Specific roles and responsibilities will be decided by the

Partnership Development sub-committee once the RCE is officially designated.

• Enhance relations with the business sector (Goal 4). Effective documentation and

communication about the value of living systems and their significance to both daily

sustenance and economic bottom lines is essential. Many on-going activities within RCE


Puerto Rico already incorporate formal and informal education partners from multiple

sectors, including academics, non-profits, government agencies, and local communities.

One area with ample room to grow is to strengthen existing ties with private enterprises

already incorporating sustainability practices and develop relationships with new ones

to diversify and bolster sustainable market opportunities. Key strategies can include

linking local producers (e.g., Luquillo farmer’s market) with vendors such as restaurants

and leveraging the multifunctional facets and services of green infrastructure. The

identification of products associated with the national forest can add value and

recognition to these goods. One example is the development of small-scale production

of non-timber products by the communities within the region. Similarly, planting native

fruit trees can enhance biodiversity and provide wildlife habitat while at the same time

lowering grocery bills and home energy costs due to the provision of food and the

cooling effects of shade, respectively. Another strategy is to develop public-private

partnerships for restoring and managing as sustainable tourism enterprises historic

recreation areas within the Community Interface Resource Management Area of EYNF.

In concert, these activities have the potential to inform individual and collective

understanding and improve the flow of material resources. Among our Core Partners,

the Citizens Participatory Committee for El Yunque includes the Puerto Rico Tourism

Company and the Bahía Beach Resort and Golf Club as members. Another member,

Geoambiente, represents a television program dedicated to environmental issues.

Following official designation of the RCE, the Communications and Outreach and

Partnership Development sub-committees will consider these and other organizations

as potential leaders to guide this effort. A major outcome we anticipate from the RCE in

this arena will be to engage at higher organizational levels that support business, such

as the Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Administration, and help

advance sustainable economic development policies that transform market functioning

region-wide. Furthermore, in keeping with our commitment to transformative

education, we aim to pursue and support alternative economic models such as

agricultural, financial, and educational cooperatives, potentially with support from the

Puerto Rico League of Cooperatives.

• Support sustainable food and energy systems and regional security (Goals 4 & 5). This

ties in directly with the development of local market opportunities, as described above.

An additional strategy is to bolster sustainable systems development through

collaboration with the University of Vermont and RCE Greater Burlington partners. UVM

is a globally renowned center of excellence for sustainability education and has

developed robust programs for cross-cultural exchange and knowledge transfer,

through its academic offerings, agricultural extension services, and partnerships with

organizations focused on sustainable agriculture, such as Shelburne Farms. RCE Puerto

https://www.liga.coop/


Rico Core Partners such as the UPRRP Department of Environmental Sciences (ENVSCI)

and CLC are already involved in collaborative activities that could support local

agricultural development and resource conservation. These include the on-going

training of UPRRP faculty, students, and natural resource professionals in the use of

Unmanned Aircraft Systems technology for agricultural and food security monitoring,

and participation by CLC staff and a teacher from Río Grande in the 2018 Shelburne

Farms Summer Institute on Education for Sustainability. This past summer, CLC attended

the Summer Institute again, this time with an environmental interpreter from the

Northeast Ecological Corridor Coalition.

We propose to build on these interactions and establish a more extensive program of

technical and cultural exchange – one that incorporates reciprocity and the regular flow

of ideas, resources, and people between the two geographies to support local

agricultural sustainability, innovation, resilience and vitality in the midst of dominating

globalization pressures. UVM has already piloted this concept in the Bahamas, in

collaboration with the community of South Andros. This interchange has included the

sharing of food systems knowledge and inspiration for ecological agriculture,

sustainable food production, and place-based celebrations of cultural and ecological

heritage. UVM extension professionals have also piloted a “Vermont Farmer-in-

Residence” program from South Andros students and teachers that has resulted in

design-build projects for raising poultry, bees, fish and vegetable production. We aspire

to implement a similar initiative of transformative education with our partners and

local communities in Puerto Rico, to help residents connect more deeply with and

steward the living landscape that supports them.

This effort could also spur the development of university partnerships for developing

sustainable energy systems. Following Hurricane María, CLC staff and representatives

from the communities of La Vega and Barcelona in Río Grande held conversations with

Green Mountain Power (a Vermont electric utility) about developing emergency power

sources and community grid initiatives using renewable technologies. Furthermore, the

Puerto Rico National Institute of Energy and Island Sustainability (INESI) is a multi-

campus multidisciplinary unit ascribed to the President’s Office of the University of

Puerto Rico that promotes the insertion of the academic community in the island’s

public energy policy process in search of sustainable solutions. RCE Puerto Rico Core

Partners have begun conversing with INESI about the possibility of engaging around

sustainable energy in the eastern region and with UVM. These food and energy

initiatives will be led by the Partnership Development and Education and Training sub-

committees and represents a unique opportunity for developing a joint-RCE application

between Vermont and Puerto Rico.


Leverage partnerships with academic programs and research consortia (Goals 1-5) in

Puerto Rico to augment teaching about and investigation of education for sustainable

development. Within the University of Puerto Rico, our ties to the College of Social

Science (e.g., Geography Dept.) and the Faculty of Education provide a strong platform

for expanding curricular offerings to include sustainable development themes, as well as

facilitating the participation of undergraduate and graduate students in service-learning

activities and projects associated with RCE Puerto Rico. Similarly, the Graduate School of

Planning supports innovative, relevant initiatives for research of community services

and economic development, contributing to the solving of complex socio-economic and

political problems. Collaborating with these diverse departments can bring novel socio-

economic dimensions and perspectives to the forefront of our RCE work.

The Luq-LTER and its affiliated programs is also in an excellent position to advance

research that can improve ESD. It already incorporates formal academic training of

students from middle school through post-doctoral scholars across a coalition of

multiple institutions, addresses environmental themes relevant to the SDGs such as the

effects of changing climate on ecosystem structure and function, and employs cutting

edge technology to monitor the dynamic interactions from the bottom of the soil to the

tops of the trees. In addition, two Luq-LTER partners, The Learning Partnership, Inc., and

Forward Learning, Inc. are actively engaged in pedagogical scholarship.

Furthermore, the International Institute of Tropical Forestry (Core Partner) conducts

research that focuses on assessing the effects of climate and land use/land cover change

on tropical ecosystems and biodiversity, and quantifying ecosystem goods and services

from working lands where human and ecological systems interact. The Institute also

engages in scholarship around knowledge systems and technology transfer linked to

sustainability themes. Lastly, the Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust

invests, facilitates and builds capacity to advance Puerto Rico’s economy and its citizens’

well-being through innovation-driven enterprises, science and technology and its

industrial base.

Working with these academic and research-focused partners, we intend to develop a

research proposal for investigation and analysis of best practices in sustainability

education and its implementation in Puerto Rico, touching on all of the goals identified

in this application. The results will contribute to transformative education projects that

augment sustainability in the lives of individuals, their communities, and ultimately the

world. Further details regarding project leads and roles will be decided by the Education

and Training and Partnership Development sub-committees.

http://planificacion.uprrp.edu/

http://planificacion.uprrp.edu/

https://prsciencetrust.org/


To conclude, we recognize that our aspirations for RCE Puerto Rico are substantial.

Accomplishing the objectives and planned activities will take considerable time and resources,

as well as further dialogue among the RCE partner groups. We are mindful of the fact that what

we have presented in this application will evolve as we fully engage in the RCE process.

Nevertheless, we are dedicated to the concepts and goals of sustainable development and

realizing their full potential in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Moreover, we remain grounded

and inspired by the tangible, positive work already underway. It is with great enthusiasm that

we solicit the Global Service Centre for inclusion of Puerto Rico in the RCE community.


REFERENCES

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Community Survey 1-Year Estimates. Retrieved April 6, 2019 from

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Brandeis, T.J.; Helmer, E.H.; Oswalt, S.N. 2007. The status of Puerto Rico’s forests, 2003. Resour.

Bull. SRS–119. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research

Station. 75 p.

Bureau of Statistics, US Department of Labor. March 2019. Puerto Rico Unemployment.

Retrieved April 3, 2019 from https://www.bls.gov/lau/

del Mar López, T., Aide, T. M., & Thomlinson, J. R. 2001. Urban expansion and the loss of prime

agricultural lands in Puerto Rico. Ambio: a Journal of the Human environment, 30(1), 49-55.

Estudios Técnicos, Inc. 2018. Balance of the Economy Post Hurricane María. Retrieved April 3, 2019 from https://gallery.mailchimp.com/dff2ee68a7f3138f141108d6f/files/0b2940c6-8f5f-492f-92ce-a35dd746743c/The_Economy_Post_Maria_revised_JJV.pdf Gould, W.A.; Alarcon, C.; Fevold, B.; Jimenez, M.E.; Martinuzzi, S.; Potts, G.; Quinones, M.; Solórzano, M.; and E. Ventosa. 2008. The Puerto Rico Gap Analysis Project Volume 1: land cover, vertebrate species distributions, and land stewardship. Gen. Tech. Rep. IITF-39.

Gould, W.A., S.J. Fain, I.K. Pares, K. McGinley, A. Perry, and R.F. Steele, 2015: Caribbean

Regional Climate Sub Hub Assessment of Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation and

Mitigation Strategies, United States Department of Agriculture, 67 pp.

Gould, W. A., Wadsworth, F. H., Quiñones, M., Fain, S. J., & Álvarez-Berríos, N. L. 2017. Land

use, conservation, forestry, and agriculture in Puerto Rico. Forests, 8(7), 242.

Grau, H. R., Aide, T. M., Zimmerman, J. K., Thomlinson, J. R., Helmer, E., & Zou, X. 2003. The

ecological consequences of socioeconomic and land-use changes in postagriculture Puerto Rico.

BioScience, 53(12), 1159-1168.

Holdridge LR (1967) Life Zone Ecology. Tropical Science Center, San José, Costa Rica. Jennings, L. N., Douglas, J., Treasure, E., & González, G. 2014. Climate Change Effects in El

Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean Region. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-GTR-193.

Asheville, NC: USDA-Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 47 p., 193, 1-47.

https://factfinder.census.gov/

https://www.bls.gov/lau/

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/dff2ee68a7f3138f141108d6f/files/0b2940c6-8f5f-492f-92ce-a35dd746743c/The_Economy_Post_Maria_revised_JJV.pdf

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/dff2ee68a7f3138f141108d6f/files/0b2940c6-8f5f-492f-92ce-a35dd746743c/The_Economy_Post_Maria_revised_JJV.pdf


Meléndez, E. & Hinojosa, J. 2017. Estimates of Post-Hurricane Maria Exodus from Puerto Rico.

Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, CUNY, New York, NY.

Méndez-Lázaro, P., Martínez-Sánchez, O., Méndez-Tejeda, R., Rodríguez, E., Morales, E., &

Schmitt-Cortijo, N. 2015. Extreme heat events in San Juan Puerto Rico: Trends and variability of

unusual hot weather and its possible effects on ecology and society. Journal of Climatology and

Weather Forecasting, 3(2), 1-7.

Méndez-Lázaro, P. A., Pérez-Cardona, C. M., Rodríguez, E., Martínez, O., Taboas, M., Bocanegra,

A., & Méndez-Tejeda, R. 2018. Climate change, heat, and mortality in the tropical urban area of

San Juan, Puerto Rico. International journal of biometeorology, 62(5), 699-707.

Puerto Rico Department of Housing. 2018. Disaster Recovery Action Plan for the use of CDBG-

DR Funds in Response to Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Retrieved March 6, 2019 from

http://www.cdbg-dr.pr.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/HUD-Approved-Action-Plan_EN.pdf

Quiñones, M., Parés, I.K., Gould, W.A., González, G., McGinley, K., & Ríos, P. El Yunque National Forest and Luquillo Experimental Forest Atlas. June 2018. USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. IITF-GTR-47.

Rudel, T. K., Perez-Lugo, M., & Zichal, H. 2000. When fields revert to forest: development and

spontaneous reforestation in post-war Puerto Rico. The Professional Geographer, 52(3), 386-

397.

Senate Bill 1121. 2019. Public Energy Policy Law of Puerto Rico.

Sosa Pascual, O., Álvarez, L., Saint-Pré, P., Mejía, M., & Rodríguez Velázquez, V. 24 April 2019. La

Mala Gestión del Agua Agrava el Impacto de la Sequía en el Caribe. Centro de Periodismo

Investigativo. Retrieved May 1 2019 from http://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2019/04/la-

mala-gestion-del-agua-agrava-el-impacto-de-la-sequia-en-el-caribe/

USGCRP. 2018: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate

Assessment, Volume II: Report-in-Brief [Reidmiller, D.R., C.W. Avery, D.R. Easterling, K.E.

Kunkel, K.L.M. Lewis, T.K. Maycock, and B.C. Stewart (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research

Program, Washington, DC, USA, 186 pp.

http://www.cdbg-dr.pr.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/HUD-Approved-Action-Plan_EN.pdf


APPENDIX A: LETTERS OF SUPPORT

802 Ave. Fernández Juncos • San Juan, PR • 00907-4315

May 5th, 2019

Global RCE Service Centre

UNU Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS)

53-70 Jingumae 5-Chome, Shibuya-ku

Tokyo, 150-8925 Japan

Dear UNU-IAS RCE Selection Committee,

On behalf of Fundación Amigos de El Yunque (Friends of El Yunque Foundation), I am pleased to

endorse this application for establishing RCE Puerto Rico as a Regional Center of Expertise on

Education for Sustainable Development. Our organization is dedicated to promoting and

supporting sustainability education initiatives in Puerto Rico through the creation of integrated

partnerships and collaborations.

Amigos helps achieve the conservation and management goals of El Yunque National Forest and

the encompassing landscape. We do this via the development of educational activities, programs,

and resources that augment knowledge and awareness about the forest’s resources and the

benefits of protecting and stewarding public lands and their surroundings. At the same time, we

seek to promote the interests of neighboring communities around the forest, through educational

efforts centered around protection and restoration of natural habitats, and the promotion of

sustainable development initiatives that benefit environment, society and economy.

Some examples of initiatives that our organization has developed that are relevant to the RCE and

the mutual goals of the partner organizations are:

- A novel citizen science project to monitor vegetation and assess ecosystem services in El

Yunque National Forest, in collaboration with the Forest Service, the University of Puerto

Rico, Río Piedras Campus, and citizen volunteers, and funded by the Forest Service.

- A volunteer project focus on the maintenance of wilderness along El Toro trail in El

Yunque, led by Puerto Rican citizens with the collaboration of university groups, FEMA

groups and visitors, and subsidized by the National Environmental Education Foundation

and NEEF and Toyota Award Grants to Restore Public Lands Impacted by Natural Disaster.

- Publication of the book “Puerto Rico and the world: Climate Change”, a document

explaining the causes and anticipated effects of climate change to a general audience,

prepared by four Puerto Rican experts and funded by the Forest Service, First Bank and

Coca-Cola Puerto Rico.

802 Ave. Fernández Juncos • San Juan, PR • 00907-4315

We understand the value of collaborative networks and working closely with local partners to

achieve common goals. Formation of RCE Puerto Rico will enhance our capacity and that of other

organizations to implement novel conservation and educational activities across multiple scales in

Puerto Rico. It will also tie us in to a diverse international network for sharing ideas, resources, and

supporting interdisciplinary relationships that move the planet toward the achievement of global

sustainability goals.

We are committed to be an engaged and active partner of this coalition, and to the extent we are

able, contributing material and personnel resources to relevant activities focused on education for

sustainable development. We are honored to be a part of this effort and fully support the

establishment of an RCE in Puerto Rico. Thank you for your consideration of our application.

Sincerely,

Lissette González Executive Director

May 7, 2019


As administrative director and main consultant of the Centro para la Conservación del

Paisaje-CCP (Center for Landscape Conservation) is a privilege to endorse and participate

in the process for the creation of the Puerto Rico Regional Center of Expertise (PR-RCE).

The CCP was created in 2009 and it has been involved in conservation, management and

educational initiatives through a series of projects, especially in the eastern region of the

island. The organization has committed funds and resources to support farmers,

communities and activities directed to achieve sustainable development initiatives. We are

looking forward to receiving the support for the creation of the PR-RCE to link and

organize additional partners in a continuous working table to share and identify solutions to

sustainability topics. Our experiences in the east region of Puerto Rico opens the

opportunity to consider on going projects and programs that could provide ideas as part of a

framework and examples for discussion in the PR-REC.

Currently we have collaborative projects with federal agencies (USDA-Forest Service,

USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service and USDOI-Fish and Wildlife Service)

that facilitate the contact with other partners and residents of impacted communities. The

collaboration with other institutions like the Agricultural Service Extension and local

community leaders also provide us with contacts that could enable the educational and

communication process toward smart and sustainable practices. The CCP has been

working with communities, businesses, organizations and residents of the eastern region of

Puerto Rico since its creation and has developed a recognized position through the

conservation and community empowerment initiatives done.

The CCP is confident that the formation of PR-RCE will facilitate and boost the discussion

of knowledge, experiences and approaches to achieve sustainable development goals in

Puerto Rico. We will facilitate the space and opportunity through our projects to consider

initial ventures and direct interaction with communities and residents as part of the PR-

RCE initiatives.

The acceptance and participation of Puerto Rico in the RCE Network will provide a much-

needed encouragement to community base organizations in the application of sustainability

principles. The PR-RCE will facilitate the linkage between educational institutions and the

academic circle to achieve on the ground projects that could be replicated through out

Puerto Rico and with our neighboring island in the Caribbean region.

The CCP strongly request your consideration and empathy for the creation of the PR-RCE

and we assure an active participation and collaboration with the core partners committed to

accomplish a better and more sustainable future for Puerto Rico and the Caribbean region.

Cordially,

Edgardo Gonzalez

Administrator and Principal Consultant

Centro para la Conservación del Paisaje

PO Box 23186

San Juan PR 00931-3186

[email protected]

Cel: 787-212-3213

Office: 787-985-0038


Department of Environmental Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, University of Puerto Rico Río Piedras 17 Ste Ave Universidad 1701, San Juan, PR 00925-2537

UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO

RIO PIEDRAS CAMPUS COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

May 5th, 2019



53-70 Jingumae 5-Chome, Shibuya-ku Tokyo, 150-8925 Japan

Dear UNU-IAS RCE Selection Committee

On behalf of the Tropical Plant Ecology and Evolution Laboratory and the Department of

Environmental Sciences of the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras, it is my pleasure to support this

application for establishing the “Puerto Rico Sustainability Education Network (PRSEN) as a

Regional Center of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCE-DS)”. Our

Department is dedicated to promoting and supporting on interdisciplinary coursework, research,

education, and professional training that encompasses fields of study relevant to sustainable

development and sustainability education in the 21st century (e.g., coupled natural and human systems,

conservation ecology, environmental sociology, water resources, ecological economics and ecosystem

resources, resource management, climate change, public health, geographic information systems, coastal

sciences in Puerto Rico.

To facilitate and support its mission, the department currently maintains island-wide as well as

international collaborative affiliations with schools, teachers, universities, local and state government,

resource management professionals, NGOs outside of the university. For example, with funds from

USDA NIFA the Tropical Plant Ecology and Evolution Laboratory hosts a collaboration with the Spatial

Analysis Laboratory of the University of Vermont and two NGOs, the Center for Landscape

Conservation (CLC) and Program of Sustainable Schools (PES), to train students in the use of

Unmanned Aircrafts Systems (drones) for applications related to the management of natural resources in

the eastern region of Puerto Rico. This summer the project will support students (graduate and

undergraduate) to implement mini proposals using drone technology in support of farmers and land

managers that have partnered with CLC and PES. The laboratory also maintains a long-term

collaboration with the NGO Amigos del Yunque and currently provides laboratory space to support their

citizen science project (Rediscover El Yunque) in areas designated to facilitate the interphase between

managers of the EL Yunque National Forest and surrounding communities of the Eastern Region of

Puerto Rico. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, the laboratory also collaborated with state and

federal agencies in various post-hurricane vegetation assessments which included but were not limited to

the evaluation of the loss of tree cover and associated ecosystem services in three cities in Puerto Rico

using iTree tools developed by the US Forest Services. The PI and students of the Tropical Plant

Ecology and Evolution Laboratory are also affiliated to interdisciplinary networks that area relevant to

sustainable development and with a practice of community engagement. Some of these networks

include but are not limited to The National Institute for Insular Energy and Sustainability (INESI for its

acronyms in Spanish) which has a catalog of faculty resources within the University of Puerto Rico

system engaged in sustainability and resilience activities; The San Juan ULTRA network (San Juan

Department of Environmental Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, University of Puerto Rico Río Piedras 17 Ste Ave Universidad 1701, San Juan, PR 00925-2537

Global RCE Service Centre (cont.)

Urban Research Areas) which is an action-research network that evaluate the resilience and adaptive

capacity of urban areas to extreme events and The Alliance for the Rio Piedras Watershed (Alianza Por

la Cuenca del Río Piedras), an alliance of non-profits, community-based groups, designers, urban

planners, researchers, and residents of San Juan that work towards a vision of sustainable urban

development for the Rio Piedras river watershed and the city of San Juan.

Our laboratory has a long-term commitment to the development of the proposed RCE-DS and is willing

to contribute resources that enhance education for sustainable development in the region (sharing ideas,

personnel, meeting space, datasets, and technological resources, recruitment of graduate and

undergraduate students among others). We are excited about the opportunity to participate and serve as

a node for PRSEN to expand and develop existing collaborations towards the support of this RCE-DS in

Puerto Rico.

Thanks for your consideration of this proposal and for your support in making PRSEN a reality.

Sincerely,

ElviaJ. Meléndez-Ackerman, PhD.

Professor

Department of Environmental Sciences /

Center for Tropical Ecology and Conservation

[email protected]


Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras

PO Box 70377, San Juan, PR 00936-8377 Tel (787)764-0000 Ext. 2550



53-70 Jingumae 5-Chome, Shibuya-ku

Tokyo, 150-8925 Japan

May 4, 2019


On behalf of the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research (LUQ-LTER) Program, including both its

ecological research and scientific education components, we are pleased to offer our support for the

establishment of the RCE Puerto Rico as a Regional Center of Expertise on Education for Sustainable

Development. For more than three decades our organization has functioned as a coalition of higher education

and scholarly institutions from within Puerto Rico, the United States, and internationally. We work

collaboratively in El Yunque National Forest (EYNF) and the surrounding eastern region of Puerto Rico to

advance knowledge of tropical forest ecosystems and supply critical information for their sustainable

management and conservation.

Using integrated theoretical, experimental, and observational approaches, LUQ-LTER provides an

innovative and comprehensive scientific framework for evaluating the management of tropical ecosystems

affected by human land use and a changing climate. The program includes both terrestrial and aquatic

studies, from the peaks of the Luquillo Mountains to the coastal ecosystems of San Juan. It encompasses

strong gradients of both climate and land use through a multidisciplinary effort involving population and

community ecologists, microbiologists, aquatic ecologists, ecosystem scientists, and social scientists.

Not only has the research improved our understanding of montane forest ecosystems; it has spurred

complementary research efforts. These include the National Science Foundation’s Critical Zone

Observatories and Urban Long-Term Research Areas programs; the U.S. Geological Survey’s Water, Energy

and Biogeochemical Budgets; the US Forest Service’s Tropical Responses to Altered Climate Experiment;

and the Center for Tropical Forest Studies in its comparisons of tropical forests around the world. These

combined efforts expand knowledge of the forests and streams of the Luquillo Mountains and provide the

foundation for understanding and quantifying their provision of essential ecosystem services to human

communities.

Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras

PO Box 70377, San Juan, PR 00936-8377 Tel (787)764-0000 Ext. 2550

A core component of LUQ-LTER is formal scientific education through the training of undergraduate,

graduate, and post-doctoral scholars. Much of this training occurs through the Environmental Sciences

Department at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, our academic home base. We also extend

our educational reach to middle and high school students and teachers from communities around EYNF

through our Schoolyard program and affiliated outreach initiatives such as Data Jam and Journey to El

Yunque, which provide forest ecology immersion experiences and instruction about ecological principles,

practices, and critical analysis. Through partnerships with off-island institutions such as Vermont EPSCoR’s

Research on Adaptation to Climate Change program we facilitate educational internships, mentoring, and

cross-cultural exchange opportunities that link scientific investigation with environmental policy and

management and engage students in conversation about the role of science in promoting sustainability.

Included among our network of affiliated members are specialists in the private sector, such as The Learning

Partnership, and Forward Learning, Inc., with knowledge and experience conducting assessments of

educational programs and activities.

We are excited about supporting sustainable development initiatives across scales in eastern Puerto Rico and

beyond. Having worked previously with some of the Core Partner organizations, we can attest to the breadth

and depth of collaborative capacity being assembled. This capacity will leverage relations for accomplishing

cooperative activities that yield transformative education results surpassing the abilities of individual

institutions.

For our part, we are committed to supporting the RCE Puerto Rico initiative by participating as a Core

Partner and contributing resources that enhance education for sustainable development in the region. This

includes, but is not limited to, sharing ideas, personnel, meeting space, datasets, and technological resources,

to the extent we are able to do so.

Thank you for consideration of this application for RCE status. It is an honor to be a part of this innovative

effort.

Sincerely,

Jess K. Zimmerman Noelia Báez Rodríguez

Lead PI, Luquillo LTER Program Coordinator, Luquillo LTER Schoolyard

Director, El Verde Field Station Department Environmental Sciences

Department Environmental Sciences Univ. of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras

Univ. of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico

P. O. Box 23345, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931-‐3345 Teléfono: 787-‐764-‐0000 Extensiones 87799, 87780

May 8, 2019


On behalf of the Department of Geography at the University of Puerto Rico, we are pleased to provide this letter of support for the creation of the Puerto Rico Regional Center of Expertise (RCE) on Education for Sustainable Development. Our organization is interested in promoting and supporting sustainable development initiatives and be part of the formal educational process for their application at different scales in Puerto Rico.

Our academic unit is part of the University of Puerto Rico. UPR is the major college education in Puerto Rico. The undergraduate program in Geography is unique not only in the island but in the Caribbean. Our students are trained in the use of geographic information systems (GIS), fieldwork, cartography, interviews (with federal certification) among others. Our academic unit have a long tradition working with school teachers and community leaders. Voluntarism as part of the curricular program. This integration is one of the cornerstones of our program. Recent researches by our students and faculty members are related with social justice, global warming, gender issues, land use planning, historical geography and environmental preservation. Our work has been presented successfully at international congress and professional meetings in the United States and South America.

The formation of the Puerto Rico RCE will enhance and facilitate the collaboration between the organizations and will encourage for partnership. The presence of our academic unit, as part of the College of Social Sciences, are important. We are sure that students and colleagues form other disciplines such as Economics, Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, Social Work and Political Sciences will be part of our presence. The structure of the RCE in a discussion table will facilitate a central forum for sharing ideas, strategies and research efforts, facilitate promotion of events, and support cross-sector relationship.

Universidad de Puerto Rico Recinto de Río Piedras

Facultad de Ciencias Sociales Departamento de Geografía

P. O. Box 23345, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931-‐3345 Teléfono: 787-‐764-‐0000 Extensiones 87799, 87780

We expect to support the initiative of the RCE by participating in the working table and integrate relevant activities focused on sustainable development as part of the working plan and considered activities. The faculty members and students of the Department of Geography at UPR are honored to be part of this initiative and effort to apply for status as an RCE and thank you for the consideration of this application. Any additional information, please contact me at [email protected] or call me at (764)-0000, ext. 87799.

Cordially,

Carlos Jorge Guilbe López, PhD Interim Chair

UNA-USA Puerto Rico

B-5 Tabonuco Street Suite 216 PMB 110

Guaynabo, PR 00968

787 996-8778 * [email protected] * www.unausapr.org

May 8, 2019 Global RCE Service Centre UNU Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) 53-70 Jingumae 5-Chome, Shibuya-ku Tokyo, 150-8925 Japan

Dear UNU-IAS RCE Selection Committee:

On behalf of UNA-USA PR Chapter Inc., a program affiliated with the United Nations

Foundation; we are pleased to offer our support for the establishment in Puerto Rico of a

Regional Center of Expertise (RCE) on Education for Sustainable Development.

Since its incorporation in 1996, UNA-USA PR has focused on the development and

coordination of youth educational and volunteer opportunities, using as a conceptual

framework, the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015) and the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDG’s 2016-2030). Simultaneously, since 2018, in response to the

new challenges facing Puerto Rico after the hurricanes of 2017, UNA-USA PR

collaborates in various stakeholder initiatives to teach about, integrate, advance and

measure the SDGs locally.

As the global network of RCEs aspires to achieve the objectives of the United Nations

Global Action Program for Sustainable Development by translating its 17 SDG’s into the

context of the local communities in which they operate—we are convinced of the

synergies that will result between the proposed Puerto Rico RCE and Puerto Rico’s SDG

Shareholder initiatives (e.g. Civil Society, Youth and Government).


http://www.unausapr.org/

UNA-USA Puerto Rico


Guaynabo, PR 00968


➢ SDG’s and Civil Society: The Working Group on the SDGs in Puerto Rico is a

collaborative effort in development, which, since August 2018, is bringing together

local stakeholders to teach about, integrate, advance and measure the SDG’s in

Puerto Rico.

While the working group began with a meeting between the Puerto Rico Statistics

Institute, Universidad Sagrado Corazón and the PR Chapter of UNA-USA on

August 16, 2018; by March 2019, many other stakeholders such as the Ana G.

Mendez University, UNESCO Chairs Programme at University of Puerto Rico, PR

Department of Education, Invest Puerto Rico, ReImagine Puerto Rico, Foundation

Network of Puerto Rico, Pablo Casals Foundation, U.S. Forest Service, U.S.

National Park Service, Grant Thornton PR and Bacardi Limited—have decided to

take concrete steps to add value to this ever growing initiative on participatory

democracy.

A special activity will be coordinated annually at Casa Bacardi (UN Global

Compact Partner), to inform about the progress of Puerto Rico in relation to the

SDGs and to recognize measurable initiatives on the part of civil society, private

industry, academia, youth and the government (local and federal); to reach them

before 2030.

➢ SDG’s & Youth

The first step of this initiative is the development of a strategic and communications

plan to present, in a multidisciplinary way, "THE WORLDS LARGEST LESSON"

in public and private schools around the Island; and encourage the participation of

young people in local activities using the GLOBAL CITIZEN youth action platform.

At least 8 workshops and Model UN Conferences (4th grade-12th grade) will take

place annually in various universities across the Island—complemented by the

development of UN Student Clubs in public and private schools.

➢ SDGs & GOVERNMENT

This indispensable initiative of the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute will develop a

website on the SDG’s in Puerto Rico; an interactive "Dashboard"; and a platform

for local business to report their progress annually in relation to the SDGs, using

the standardized guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative.

Finally, facilitate the integration of Puerto Rico’s statistics in the SDG Global

Dashboard—developed and maintained by the UN Sustainable Development

Solutions Network SDSN



http://worldslargestlesson.globalgoals.org/

http://www.sdgsdashboard.org/

http://www.sdgsdashboard.org/

UNA-USA Puerto Rico


Guaynabo, PR 00968


In consideration of the above premises and committed to being an active supporting

partner of the RCE in Puerto Rico:

UNA-USA PR SHALL:

A. Facilitate an active statistical exchange collaboration between the RCE and Puerto

Rico Statistics Institute on pertinent SDG GOALS (#6, #13, #15) and indicators.

B. Promote the inclusion of the SDG’s and the United Nations Educational, Scientific

and Cultural Organization’s Man & the Biosphere designation of El Yunque National

Forest (EYNF)—on future audio-visual content, interpretive and exhibitions at the

Portalito Hub and upcoming Portal Visitor & Community Center.

C. Coordinate conservation education activities with the RCE, using the network of

over 35 public and private schools that participate on programs and activities developed

by UNA-USA PR.

D. Coordinate youth engagement/volunteer activities with the RCE by promoting and

facilitating participation of students from the larger community surrounding EYNF

(Canovanas, Loiza, Carolina, Rio Grande).

F. Work with and execute collaborations with mutual RCE / UNA-USA PR partners

such as Fundación Amigos del Yunque (e.g. International Forest Day), USDA Extension

Services at UPR-RUM (Model United Nations and UN Clubs / 4-H Clubs).

Sincerely,

Ricardo Arzuaga, Executive Director UNA-USA PR Chapter Inc.



Global RCE Service Centre UNU Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) 53-70 Jingumae 5-Chome, Shibuya-ku Tokyo, 150-8925 Japan

San Juan, May 8th, 2019


On behalf of the Citizens Participatory Committee for El Yunque, I am pleased to provide this letter of

support for the creation of RCE Puerto Rico as a Regional Center of Expertise (RCE) on Education for

Sustainable Development. Our group is highly interested in promoting, creating and supporting

sustainable development initiatives and participating in their application via diverse educational

activities in Puerto Rico.

Our mission is to promote sustainable development and conservation of natural, cultural, historic

and socioeconomic resources of the landscape surrounding El Yunque National Forest (EYNF), in

solidarity with the adjacent communities. Through our diversity of partnerships, including with

educational, agricultural, tourism, planning, conservation, and media-based organizations, we

seek to enhance processes of regional governance, conservation education, community

development, responsible resource use, and participation in the management of EYNF.

We have a long-term relationship of supporting regional land stewardship. Notably, our group

played a key role in organizing and guiding several community participation forums for the

integrated planning of EYNF.

The formation of the Puerto Rico RCE will strengthen existing relations among organizations and

will catalyze new partnership opportunities for promoting formal and informal education that

fosters sustainability and enhances conservation impact in the region. The collaborative structure

of the RCE will serve as a central platform for sharing ideas, developing common goals,

objectives, and strategies, promoting events, and supporting cross-sector relationships that

leverage synergies among groups. It will also provide opportunities for connecting with and

learning from members of the international RCE network.

We are committed to supporting this RCE initiative by participating as a Core Partner and

contributing to relevant activities focused on education for sustainable development. It is an

honor to be a part of this effort and apply for status as an RCE. Thank you for your consideration

of this application.

Sincerely,

Marcela Cañón

Vice-Chair

May 3rd 2019

Dear UNU-‐IAS RCE Selection Committee,

On behalf of Sierra Club Puerto Rico Chapter, we are pleased to provide this letter of support for the creation of the Puerto Rico Regional Center of Expertise (RCE) on Education for Sustainable Development. Our organization is interested in promoting and supporting sustainable development initiatives and be part of the educational process for their application at different scales in Puerto Rico.

Founded in 1892 and with more than one million members active nationwide, the Sierra Club is the oldest environmental organization in the United States. The Chapter of Puerto Rico established in 2005 currently has 800 active members and has worked with the community to explore, enjoy and protect our environment. We have collaborated with various organizations and institutions to, among other things, achieve the protection of the Northeast Ecological Corridor (CEN), to reduce solid waste through conservation practices, recycling and reuse (zero waste), and to create Cool Cities that reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases. In addition, we have a database of more than 20,000 supporters who stand in solidarity with our environmental campaigns.

The formation of the Puerto Rico RCE will enhance and facilitate the collaboration between the organizations and will encourage new opportunities for partnership. The structure of the RCE in a discussion table will facilitate a central forum for sharing ideas, strategies and research efforts, facilitate promotion of events, and support cross-‐sector relationships.

Over the past years we have partnered and supported groups such as the “Centro para la Conservacion del Paisaje” and we are thrilled to be part of other efforts with this groups. We expect to support the initiative of the RCE by participating in the working table and integrate relevant activities focused on sustainable development as part of the working plan and considered activities.

We are honored to be a part of this initiative and effort to apply for status as an RCE and thank you for your consideration of this application.

Sincerely,

Adriana González-‐Delgado

[email protected] // 939.414.3600

Organizadora de Base

Programa Justicia Ambiental-‐ Puerto Rico

Sierra Club

787.688.6214 * PO Box 21552, SJ PR 00931-‐1552

ESTUAR San Juan Bay National Estuary Program

May 8, 2019


On behalf of San Juan Bay National Estuary Program, we are pleased to provide this letter of support for the creation of

the RCE Puerto Rico. Our organization is interested in promoting and supporting sustainable development initiatives

and be part of the educational process for their application at different scales in Puerto Rico.

The San Juan Bay Estuary Program is a nonprofit organization that works to protect this ecosystem, in the eight

metropolitan municipalities that comprise it: Bayamon, Carolina, Catano, Guaynabo, Loiza, San Juan, Toa Baja and Trujillo

Alto. Section 320 of the U.S. Clean Water Act created the National Estuary Program. According to the law's model, it

allows the governors of coastal states with estuaries to submit these bodies of water to the Administrator of

the U:S. Environmental Protection Agency. The objective is that they reach the category of national importance, and

can receive federal funds directed to research, draft and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive plan

for estuarine management and conservation.

On April 20, 1993, the Governor of Puerto Rico signed the official designation of the San Juan Bay Estuary as one of

national importance to the United States. Then, in 1994, he opened the Estuary Program's office. The Estuary Program is

the only tropical one outside the continental United States.

Some examples of initiatives that our organization has developed are:

The resilient communities' projects, The Water Monitoring Program, The Estuarine Education Program that includes

teachers' workshops, Green Infrastructure program, Reforestation program, The Estuary Urban Forest Network, Student

oriented talks and field trips and a robust volunteer program that includes the new Citizen Science Certification

Program.

The formation of the RCE Puerto Rico will enhance and facilitate the collaboration between the organizations and will

encourage new opportunities for partnership. The considered structure of the network with a discussion table will

facilitate a central forum for sharing ideas, strategies and research efforts, facilitate promotion of events, and

support cross-sector relationships.

We expect to support the initiative of the Puerto Rico's network by participating in the working table, integrate relevant

activities focused on sustainable development and provide our recommendations according to our experiences as part of

the working plan and considered actions.

We are honored to be a part of this initiative and effort to apply for the RCE Puerto Rico and appreciate your

consideration of the application.

Sincerely,

q�o� Executive Director

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources

George D. Aiken Center, 81 Carrigan Drive, Burlington, VT 05405-0088

(802) 656-2911 Fax: (802) 656-8683 Web: www.uvm.edu/rsenr

Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer

Global RCE Service Centre UNU Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) 53-70 Jingumae 5-Chome, Shibuya-ku Tokyo, 150-8925 Japan May 8, 2019 Dear UNU-IAS RCE Selection Committee, In my role as co-coordinator of RCE Greater Burlington, it is a distinct pleasure to write in support of this application for establishing RCE Puerto Rico as a Regional Center of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development. As an ecologist at the University of Vermont, I have experienced the power of utilizing the UN Sustainable Development Goals to mobilize a regional educational network here in the northeast US, as well as the synergy that is possible when regional networks are linked together as a part of a global network. I have also had the pleasure of working closely with colleagues, conservation organizations, and communities in Puerto Rico over the past 10 years, and feel strongly that the compelling vision and exciting partnerships highlighted in this proposal will contribute to a sustainable future for the island and the Caribbean region. In September 2017, I was attending the RCE Americas meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, when we learned that Hurricane Maria was making a direct hit on Puerto Rico and wreaking widespread devastation across the entire island. Discussion amongst the assembled delegates focused on the need for getting immediate relief and supplies to the people of Puerto Rico, and well as longer term plans for helping to develop a more resilient sustainable energy infrastructure and making real headway on the causes and impacts of climate change. When Dr. Philip Vaughter noted to the assembled group that the Caribbean was a region of the globe that lacked an RCE, it immediately occurred to me that our colleagues involved in community conservation in northeast Puerto Rico might be just the ones to spearhead such an initiative. My confidence in the networking capacity of organizations such as Center for Landscape Conservation, Friends of El Yunque, University of Puerto Rico, and the Sierra Club, is based on my first-hand experience over the years of collaborating with colleagues from these organizations on a range of projects in both Vermont and Puerto Rico. In 2012, they very successfully hosted a group of 10 graduate student-researchers that I brought to the island as a part of a comparative place-based landscape analysis course that examined forest management practices in both places. The following year they hosted a graduate student carrying out a place-based landscape exploration of the cultural and natural history of the town of Adjuntas in the central mountains. The relationship has been built on reciprocity, and Vermont has hosted representatives from these organization on several occasions to exchange ideas and practices in the areas of sustainable food systems, place-based education, forest management, and ecological design. In

http://www.uvm.edu/rsenr

George D. Aiken Center, 81 Carrigan Drive, Burlington, VT 05405-0088

(802) 656-2911 Fax: (802) 656-8683 Web: www.uvm.edu/rsenr

Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer

the year-and-a-half since Hurricane Maria hit the Caribbean, RCE Greater Burlington has been working in solidarity with communities in Puerto Rico on a range of community rebuilding and ecosystem restoration projects. During March 2018, for example, a group of representatives from RCE Greater Burlington traveled to the island to assist with ongoing hurricane relief efforts in communities bordering El Yunque National Forest, and a few months later, teachers from Puerto Rico came to Shelburne Farms (a founding partner of our RCE in Vermont) for a week-long institute on Education for Sustainability. The partners in our sustainability education network here in Vermont all very excited about the prospect of Puerto Rico officially joining the UN’s Global RCE Network. We look forward to both serving as mentors to RCE Puerto Rico as it gets off the ground, and continuing to learn about community resiliency and management of social-ecological systems from our remarkable partners there. We urge you to give this very worthy proposal your full consideration. Sincerely,

Walter Poleman Walter Poleman, co-coordinator RCE Greater Burlington

http://www.uvm.edu/rsenr